The Globalist recently examined the HIV/AIDS situation in the Caribbean and Latin America. Although Haiti was "one of the countries hardest hit" by HIV/AIDS in the region, infection rates have been falling during the last few years, according to UNAIDS statistics. Infection rates have been declining more slowly in rural areas than in urban areas, and the percentage of pregnant women who have tested HIV-positive has declined by half over the last 10 years, the Globalist reports. Currently about 190,000 Haitians or 2.2% of the population is HIV-positive. In 2001, 6.1% of the adult population was HIV-positive, according to UNAIDS ...(continued)
HIV-positive people worldwide are at an increased risk of the H1N1 flu strain, the World Health Organization said on Saturday in guidelines for health workers published on its Web site, Reuters India reports. According to WHO, people with immodeficiency diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, likely will be vulnerable to complications related to the flu strain, just as they are from the seasonal flu, which results in about 250,000 to 500,000 deaths annually. According to WHO, the H1N1 strain and HIV could prove to be a hazardous combination, similar to HIV and tuberculosis. "Although there are inadequate data to predict the impact of a possible human influenza pandemic on HIV-affected populations, interactions between HIV and A(H1N1) influenza could be significant," WHO said, adding that HIV-positive people "should be considered as a high risk and a priority population for preventive and therapeutic strategies against influenza, including emerging influenza A(H1N1) virus infection" ...(continued)
An article in today’s issue of ‘Congressional Quarterly’ headlined, “AIDS Group Shows Impatience,” focuses on AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s growing concern that President Obama’s total silence on HIV/AIDS during his first 100 days in office signals the relatively low priority that AIDS seems to hold for the President and his Administration. The article, written by CQ staff reporter Shawn Zeller, reports on a 60 second television advertisement titled, “President Obama: We Hope you are the Change We Can Believe In On AIDS,” that AHF produced and aired on CNN in Washington and New York. Following is the CQ article: Click to view video.
May is Mental Health Month. In the U.S., roughly one in five experience some sort of mental illness. Depression is the most widespread psychiatric condition. Those with chronic hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) frequently experience depression. Depression is common in the general public, with sources reporting from 5% to 20%. That number increases for those living below the poverty level. Women, non-Hispanic blacks and those ages 40-59 have higher depression rates. The World Health Organization reports that depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide ...(continued)
In the last few years omega-3 fatty acids have been in the news as the next best thing to help manage and treat a wide variety of health-related issues. Usually when this type of hype builds up on anything it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. But omega-3’s just might buck this trend because there is a good amount of scientific data that is confirming some of the claims made in the last few years. For instance, omega-3 fatty acids have been found to improve the overall health of the heart by lowering unhealthy cholesterol and blood pressure. Some research has also found that omega-3’s may even help to lower the risk of stroke. In this article I will explore some of the facts of omega 3’s and how these relate to the liver – namely fatty liver disease and insulin resistance, two factors that greatly affect HCV disease progression and treatment outcome ...(continued)
Jimi Reinke is in Rock County twice a week distributing syringes to drug users. He is doing nothing illegal. His job is to keep people from dying from dirty needles. Reinke works for Lifepoint Needle Exchange, a program of the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin. Based in Madison, he works a territory from the Dells south to the state line. Rock County is a prime territory ...(continued)
THERE is good news for people with hepatitis C, say medical researchers who have found that with early treatment up to 70 per cent of patients will be cured of the debilitating infection. What's more, the international team showed that, overall, when treating the blood-borne virus, the standard combination drug treatment was as effective as a stronger regimen, which caused more serious side effects ...(continued)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Leaders of traditional Black political, civil rights, social, and faith based organizations will come together with local AIDS and community based organizations on Monday, May 4, 2009 for a D.C. Black AIDS Leadership Mobilization Summit to respond to recent data released by the D.C. Department of Health. The meeting will take place 5 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Kaiser Family Foundation located at 1310 G. Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20005. National television commentator Jeff Johnson will moderate the event ...(continued)
Media outlets in the Solomon Islands should undertake efforts to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and counteract the stigma associated with the disease, Joe Weber, Oxfam International representative for the country, said recently at the close of a week-long media training on HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, PINS/Solomon Star News reports. The meeting -- funded by Oxfam and organized by the Solomon Islands Planned Parenthood Association -- included 20 media personnel from various organizations in the country's capital of Honiara ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS efforts in Fiji should be mobilized to address disruptions in productivity among workers in the country, Stuart Watson, UNAIDS coordinator for the Pacific Region, said on Tuesday, the Fiji Times reports. Watson was addressing participants at an event to mark the 2009 World Day for Safety and Health at Work. He noted that HIV/AIDS often affects workers, who are the drivers of a country's economy ...(continued)
About 9.2% of inmates in Tanzania's prisons are HIV-positive, according to a recently released 2008 Human Rights Report compiled by the country's Legal and Human Rights Centre, Guardian/IPP Media reports. LHRC advocate Clarence Kipobota at the release of the report said that the situation in Tanzanian prisons is alarming, adding that there are no systems in place to aid HIV-positive inmates. He said, "There is no information on appropriate health facilities for people living with HIV/AIDS in prisons," adding that there are "no mechanisms designed to facilitate a convicted person's transition back into the society when they are released" ...(continued)
By tinkering with a dormant human gene, researchers at the University of Central Florida have found a way to produce a protein that resists HIV in the lab, the AP/Orlando Sentinel reports (Quintero, AP/Orlando Sentinel, 4/28). The researchers say that the findings could one day be used to create a topical cream, or microbicide, that helps to prevent the transmission of HIV from men to women, McClatchy-Tribune News Service/Journal Gazette reports (McClatchy-Tribune News Service/Journal Gazette, 4/28) ...(continued)
President Obama on Monday named Eric Goosby as the new global AIDS coordinator and administrator of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the New York Times reports (Macfarquhar, New York Times, 4/27). Goosby, whose nomination has to be confirmed by the Senate, currently serves as CEO and chief medical officer of Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation and as a professor of clinical medicine at the University of California-San Francisco (CQ HealthBeat, 4/27). During the Clinton administration, he served as deputy director of the White House National AIDS Policy Office and director of HHS' Office of HIV/AIDS Policy. According to White House officials, Goosby was a key player in developing and implementing national HIV/AIDS treatment programs in China, Rwanda, South Africa and Ukraine (White House release, 4/27) ...(continued)
The number of HIV cases among people younger than age 35 in El Paso, Texas, is on the rise, highlighting what some health officials say is a trend of complacency about the virus, the El Paso Times reports. The city's health department records indicate a shift in the ages of people testing HIV-positive. In 2004, the majority of newly reported cases occurred among men older than age 35, while in 2007 and 2008, more cases were newly recorded among people in their 20s and early 30s. Twenty-two cases have been reported in the first three months of this year, with more than half among people younger than age 35. Twenty-one cases were among men, with seven among men ages 24 or younger and five among men ages 25 to 34. Three cases occurred among men between ages 35 and 39, while the remaining six cases occurred among men ages 45 to 64 ...(continued)
Taiwan's harm reduction program for injection drug users -- which has reduced the number of new HIV cases among the group by about 50% over a three-year period -- recently received praise at the International Harm Reduction Association's 20th International Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, Inter Press Service reports. According to Inter Press Service, Taiwan's HIV incidence declined to 1,752 new cases in 2008, compared with more than 3,300 in 2005 -- nearly double the number recorded in 2004. Sheng Mou Hu, the country's health minister at the time, said the success in reducing the number of new HIV cases can be attributed to the approach that "harm reduction should be based on human rights." The program was launched in 2006 and includes elements like enhanced screening and monitoring of HIV-positive IDUs, a needle-exchange program and methadone replacement initiatives. As a result, IDUs in Taiwan are presented to the public as "patients" who required medical attention rather than criminals, Inter Press Service reports ...(continued)
A report by Chinese and U.S. researchers released last week in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report examined the spread of HIV in China's Guangdong province, Reuters reports. The team of researchers -- from CDC and the Guangdong Center for Disease Control -- said that 82.1% of new HIV cases among men in Guangdong occurred through injection drug use, while 53.7% of HIV-positive women had "engaged in high-risk heterosexual contact" (Fox, Reuters, 4/24). According to the report, injection drug use was the most common mode of transmission over the period 1997 to 2007, but new infections attributable to injection drug use declined from 2005 to 2007 while those related to high-risk heterosexual contact increased (MMWR, 4/24). The researchers said that the findings "might suggest a shift in Guangdong's HIV epidemic similar to the national trend, in which heterosexual transmission was the main transmission category in China in 2007." The researchers added, "Migrant women who lack appropriate job skills or who seek to supplement the family income might become sex workers, and migrant men living apart from their spouses might become clients of sex workers" ...(continued)
Uganda's Ministry of Health last week released breastfeeding guidelines as part of a wider policy on feeding policies for infants and young children, New Vision reports. The guidelines also include breastfeeding recommendations for HIV-positive women. According to the guidelines, women should exclusively breastfeed for the first six months. In addition, they say that health workers should determine the HIV status of pregnant and breastfeeding women -- and that such women should disclose their status -- to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission. According to the guidelines, HIV-positive women should still breastfeed for the first six months, regardless of their infants' HIV status, unless adequate breastmilk replacements are available. Current guidelines recommend HIV testing among infants at age six weeks if they are born to HIV-positive women ...(continued)
WHEELING, W.Va. - Patients with hepatitis C infection appear more likely to die from the condition if they also suffer from one or more components of metabolic syndrome, a researcher said. Excess body weight and hypertension both significantly heightened the risk of liver-related mortality in hepatitis C patients, according to data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) series, reported Zobair Younossi, M.D., of Inova Health System in Falls Church, Va. Those two factors as well as the third component of metabolic syndrome -- type 2 diabetes -- also made death from all causes more likely during the study period, said Dr. Younossi ...(continued)
Zambia's health minister, Kapembwa Simbao, recently said that the provision of services to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission remains a challenge in the country, despite the government's efforts to expand such services in recent years, the Lusaka Times reports. Simbao's remarks, read by Deputy Health Minister Mwendoi Akakandelwa, came as the ministry completed an initial mid-term review of efforts under a regional grant provided by the Canadian International Development Agency and the World Health Organization ...(continued)
Results of ongoing HIV infection trend analysis in China conducted with technical assistance from the U.S. CDC help to characterize HIV transmission and provide valuable information to China for targeting and evaluating HIV prevention, care, and treatment programs. In 2007, an estimated 700,000 persons in China were living with HIV infection, of which 40.6 percent were infected through heterosexual transmission and 38.1 percent were infected through injection-drug use. To assess recent trends in HIV infection in Guangdong Province, the country's most populous, the Guangdong Center for Disease Control, with technical assistance from CDC, analyzed case-based surveillance data from 1997 to 2007. The results of this analysis indicated that, from 2003 to 2005, the number of reported new HIV infections increased from 1,284 to 5,223, with the majority of infections related to injection-drug use. However, 2007 data indicate a decline in infections related to injection-drug use while infections from heterosexual contact continued to increase.
~Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - 04/22/2009
Ugandan government officials and HIV/AIDS advocates are concerned that cutbacks in the World Food Program's aid initiatives to internally displaced people living with HIV in the country will make it difficult to meet the needs of the large number of people who are leaving resettlement camps, IRIN/PlusNews reports. WFP in 2008 announced that a funding shortfall forced the organization to reduce its Ugandan food programs, phasing out general food distribution in the north. Bai Mankay Sankoh, head of WFP's Gulu office, said the organization "shall only be providing food support to those HIV-positive IDPs who are extremely sick or those whose health condition has relapsed, based on evidence from health workers." According to IRIN/PlusNews, IDPs are being encouraged to leave the camps as a two-year lapse in hostilities between the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army has led to an ongoing peace process. Local officials say that about 40% of the country's nearly one million IDPs have relocated to camps closer to their home villages ...(continued)
Although HIV/AIDS poses significant challenges, the disease also presents opportunities for social change, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said recently during a visit to Senegal, AFP/Google.com reports. Sidibe said people should not regard HIV/AIDS simply as a problem but rather should use HIV/AIDS as an "entry point" to discuss social issues and "bring about changes in legislation." According to Sidibe, HIV/AIDS presents a "political opportunity to trigger profound changes in society, to talk about difficult issues like sex education, homophobia and human rights issues in general, like the position of women in society." He added that he regards UNAIDS "as a political agent which has to demand change" rather than as an organization with "clearly outlined programs." He said, "UNAIDS has to be the voice for the voiceless, it should have political courage" ...(continued)
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Afghan Ministry of Health have established a regional plan to prevent and control the spread of HIV among injection drug users who are refugees in Iran and Pakistan, Xinhua News Agency reports. According to a release from the health ministry, the project aims to bolster access to and availability, quality and uptake of HIV prevention and care services. It also aims to create a regional network of HIV prevention efforts (Xinhua News Agency, 4/8) ...(continued)
The spread of HIV/AIDS in Namibia over the past decade has halted the country's gains in improving children's health, and some organizations are calling for improved access to health care services and programs addressing poverty and hunger, South Africa's Mail and Guardian reports. Namibia was on track to reduce its child mortality rates until 2000, when child mortality rates began to increase. Ian McCleod, Namibia's representative for UNICEF, said that 50% of all child deaths among children under age five are because of HIV-related conditions such as malnutrition, low birthweight, premature births, immune deficiency, pneumonia and diarrhea ...(continued)
In an effort to monitor cases of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, the Cleveland Health Department plans to use social networking sites and e-mail messages to reach people who have come in contact with a person who recently tested positive for an STI, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Health officials typically track people who might have been exposed to HIV or syphilis by visiting their homes or popular gathering places, such as bars or bathhouses. Beginning next week, the department will create profiles on two popular networking sites for men who have sex with men and contact people through these sites. In addition, the department eventually plans to create a profile on Facebook ...(continued)
The AIDS Control Unit at Maseno University in Kenya has launched an initiative to address stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS by encouraging students to avoid offensive language regarding the disease, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Maurine Olel, coordinator of the control unit, said, "We are working with student clubs, students leaders and other partners to ensure that students are ... sensitive to their colleagues who might be living with HIV," adding, "When you create stigma, other efforts geared towards fighting HIV become hard to implement." Rosemary Wambui, a psychologist and counselor at the control unit, said, "Students are generally aware of HIV, but it is important to fight stigma ... and what it is that causes it, including the language, because it leads to silence and denial, which are big hindrances to the fight against HIV" ...(continued)
Needle-exchange efforts in the Canadian city of Victoria are "clearly inadequate" and do not meet international health guidelines on HIV/AIDS prevention, Thomas Kerr, a health researcher with the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, said recently, the Victoria Times Colonist reports. Kerr said that the city has been without a permanent needle-exchange facility since the last site closed about one year ago, following complaints from neighboring residents. After the Vancouver Island Health Authority decided not to open a fixed site, authority officials contracted AIDS Vancouver Island to offer a mobile needle-exchange service with two teams working from a van and on foot, the Times Colonist reports ...(continued)
IRIN/PlusNews on Monday examined a peer education program in Laos directed toward "hidden" men who have sex with men, a group that is "difficult to identify in HIV prevention and surveillance" despite being "probably the largest group of MSM in the country." Anan Bouapha -- a former coordinator for the project, which is run by the Australian medical research facility the Burnet Institute -- said, "Unlike transsexuals or openly gay men, hidden MSM can be homosexual, bisexual or straight. They might not want to be identified as MSM but we need to get the safe-sex message to them, no matter how difficult this is." IRIN/PlusNews reports that the program's peer educators visit places young men are most likely to gather, such as beer shacks, saunas or video shops. Bouapha said that the peer educators are trained to discuss HIV and other sexually transmitted infection prevention, as well as how to approach MSM so that they feel comfortable asking questions ...(continued)
The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief has helped prevent more than one million AIDS-related deaths and reduced AIDS-related mortality by an average of 10.5% annually in 12 African focus countries as more people gained access to antiretroviral drugs, according to a study published online Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Bloomberg reports. According to the study, the program did not have any effect on overall HIV prevalence. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality provided funding for the study ...(continued)
VOA News on Saturday examined efforts to address HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea. Some estimates place the country's HIV/AIDS prevalence at 2%, and some studies indicate that about 10% of the population could be living with the disease by 2025. According to VOA News, young women and older men are disproportionately affected by the disease, and most HIV cases are transmitted through heterosexual intercourse ...(continued)
The Miami Herald on Monday examined issues that some HIV-positive men who have sex with men face when determining when to reveal their status to potential partners. According to the Herald, a recent study from the Gay Men's Health Crisis found that half of U.S. residents surveyed said they believe that HIV/AIDS contributes to discrimination against MSM. In addition, discrimination in the MSM community toward HIV-positive MSM is not discussed widely, according to the Herald. This stigma often leads to a fear of disclosure among HIV-positive MSM, which can contribute to high-risk sexual activity and the spread of HIV ...(continued)
Cambodia aims to decrease its HIV/AIDS prevalence to 0.6% by 2010, compared with a prevalence of more than 0.7% in 2008 and 0.9% in 2006, Xinhuanet reports. To reach the target, the government has allocated between $45 million and $50 million annually to address the disease. Following efforts from the government and nongovernmental organizations, more than 90% of commercial sex workers, injection drug users, men who have sex with men, and women who have sex with women are aware of HIV/AIDS, according to government figures. In addition, the figures indicate that at least 90% of sex workers use condoms ...(continued)
Uganda's first lady Janet Museveni recently called for increased efforts to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission in the country, Uganda's New Vision reports. MTC prevention efforts are a prerequisite in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Museveni said, adding that more than 90% of pregnant women have contact with a health care provider at least once during pregnancy ...(continued)
Inter Press Service last week examined how researchers are investigating the use of antiretroviral drugs as a possible method of pre-exposure prophylaxis. AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition's Executive Director Mitchell Warren recently said that such efforts are "a pivotal moment in HIV/AIDS research." Mitchell -- who was speaking at the Fourth South African AIDS Conference -- said, "We are at a time where prevention and treatment need to marry." Salim Abdool Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa, said that PrEP is "biologically plausible" and that the method "could prevent millions of new infections every year." Inter Press Service reports that there are three PrEP trials planned by different research organizations worldwide that aim to examine preventing the heterosexual transmission of HIV among women ...(continued)
Officials in the transport industry in Kenya have partnered with the World Food Program to open HIV/AIDS service centers along major transportation routes that will offer testing and care to transport workers, port workers and commercial sex workers, Kenya's Business Daily reports. WFP, the Kenya Ports Authority, Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa, and the North Star Foundation established the first center along the corridor route at Mombasa port. An additional 20 centers have been established ...(continued)
Petrina Haingura, Namibia's deputy health minister, recently called on participants at the bi-annual Namibia Network of AIDS Service Organizations to increase prevention efforts in the country's fight against HIV/AIDS, Namibia's New Era reports. A 2008 survey that monitored HIV prevalence among women showed "a welcome fall" from 19.9% in 2006 to 17.7% in 2008, Haingura said. She added that prevalence rates have decreased to 5% among people between ages 15 and 19, and to 14% among people ages 20 to 24. In addition, HIV prevalence in six of Namibia's regions has declined to 15%, compared with previous rates as high as 40%, Haingura noted ...(continued)
Joao Lourenco, first deputy speaker of Angola's National Assembly, on Tuesday called for the creation of a parliamentary HIV/AIDS commission to address issues surrounding the disease, the Angola Press reports. According to Lourenco, members of parliament, the National AIDS Commission and nongovernmental organizations should establish a permanent relationship with the committee. He said that members of parliament should take a larger role in Angola's HIV/AIDS strategies in an effort to assist HIV-positive people, adding that they also should help the country's efforts to obtain foreign, technical and financial aid. In addition, Lourenco said that parliament should hold more frequent sessions and discussions on the disease and involve all sectors of society ...(continued)
The Papua New Guinea Defence Force will store and distribute 43 million condoms throughout the country in an effort to prevent the spread of HIV, ABC Online reports. ABC Online reports that the National AIDS Council does not have the resources to distribute large amounts of condoms, which in the past has resulted in the expiration of some condoms. The Defence Force will provide storage space in the capital of Port Moresby and transport condoms throughout the country. Commodore Peter Llau said the distribution effort is a worthwhile cause, adding, "We don't normally deal with civil donor agencies, but this is one of those rare occasions when we've responded." ABC Online reports that an estimated 2% of the country's population is HIV-positive (Fox, ABC Online, 3/30) ...(continued)
Recent data compiled by the Ghana AIDS Commission indicate that about 160,000 children have been orphaned by the disease in the country, Ghana's GNA/My Joy Online reports. According to Damien Punguyire, medical superintendent of the country's Kintampo Hospital, without adequate care, more people will be affected by the pandemic and more children will be orphaned within the next five years ...(continued)
When someone is exposed to the hepatitis B virus (HBV), there are two types of infections that can result – acute (shortlived)
or chronic (long-term) ...(continued)
Pregnant women who are infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) frequently infect their newborns because of the HBV present in their blood and body fluids. About 40 percent of infants born to HBV-infected mothers in the United States become infected unless they are immediately vaccinated and receive hepatitis B antibodies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) ...(continued)
It is an established fact that stress can have a negative impact on both mind and body. People with hepatitis B often comment that a period of stress usually leads to a ‘flare-up’ of symptoms, especially fatigue. Surprisingly, there is a wealth of information about how stress can affect liver disease. This fact sheet will cover some of the data from a review article titled “Does Stress Exacerbate Liver Disease?” by Y. Chida and colleagues, and sheds some light on the effects of stress on liver disease as well as raising some interesting questions ...(continued)
PBS' "News Hour With Jim Lehrer" recently aired a three-part series examining various issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa. Summaries of the three segments appear by clicking title:
Stigma and discrimination aimed at transgendered people and men who have sex with men in Indonesia are significant factors in deterring the groups from receiving HIV tests, the country's Inter Medika Foundation said Tuesday, the Jakarta Globe reports. Harry Prabowo, director of the foundation, said that members of these high-risk communities should be motivated to seek voluntary counseling and testing, especially those who practice unsafe sex. He added that motivation should come from members of the community, as well as family and friends. VCT is offered at clinics run by the government and nongovernmental organizations, the Globe reports ...(continued)
PBS' "News Hour With Jim Lehrer" recently aired a three-part series examining various issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in South Africa. Summaries of the three segments appear by clicking title:
The New York City-based HIV/AIDS group Gay Men's Health Crisis on Tuesday will join other advocates, officials, teachers and clergy members outside City Hall to bring attention to what it calls the "alarming" impact of HIV/AIDS on women and girls on the occasion of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, the AP/USA Today reports. The group plans to call for improved sex education in schools and increased HIV prevention and treatment services (AP/USA Today, 3/9). The 2009 theme for the day is "HIV is Right Here at Home" (HHS Web site, 3/10) ...(continued)
Atlanta: The African-American Outreach Initiative will hold its 10th annual conference on HIV/AIDS in Atlanta March 15, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. AIDS is the leading cause of death among black women ages 24 to 34 and the second leading cause of death among black men ages 35 to 44. The two-day conference will seek to identify people who are HIV-positive and encourage them to seek care, Michael Banner, chair of the planning committee, said. According to Banner, the conference attracts between 500 and 600 people who are HIV-positive. Banner said the conference "gives people who are HIV-positive a safe place to come and get information and see role models who are living with HIV but not living in the shadows" (Bonds Staples, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/8) ...(continued)
An HIV/AIDS advocacy group in Nigeria's Bauchi state is encouraging HIV-positive people to marry one another in an effort to prevent the virus from spreading to HIV-negative people, the AP/Google.com reports. The program is run by the Bauchi Action Committee on AIDS and offers counseling and money to couples who are living with HIV/AIDS and are planning to marry ...(continued)
A new Web site and booklet from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) could help many people reduce their risk for alcohol problems. Called Rethinking Drinking, the new materials present evidence-based information about risky drinking patterns, the alcohol content of drinks, and the signs of an alcohol problem, along with information about medications and other resources to help people who choose to cut back or quit drinking. The Web site — RethinkingDrinking.niaaa.nih.gov — also features interactive tools, such as calculators for measuring alcohol calories and drink sizes. NIAAA is part of the National Institutes of Health ...(continued)
Many women entering jail or prison are pregnant, and correctional facilities are therefore an important
venue for providing a range of pregnancy-related care, including access to abortion services. However, the availability
of abortion services to inmates in the United States is unknown ...(continued)
Men and women should share equal responsibility for preventing HIV/AIDS and providing treatment to people living with the diseases, Ng Yen Yen -- Malaysian minister for women, family and community development -- said last week at the 53rd Session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women, Bernama Daily Malaysian News reports. According to Ng, the percentage of new HIV/AIDS cases in Malaysia that occur among women has increased from 1.2% in 1990 to 16.4% in 2007. In addition, most HIV-positive women in the country contract the virus from their husbands, Ng said ...(continued)
Religious leaders in Tajikistan have joined a campaign that aims to address HIV/AIDS in the country, Radio Free Europe reports. According to Mullah Abdurahim Imam, who heads a mosque in the city of Dushanbe, the religious leaders are working with an HIV/AIDS center and international groups to improve their understanding of the disease and promote healthy lifestyles. In addition, the government, the United Nations office in Dushanbe and HIV/AIDS experts have organized seminars and roundtables for mullahs and imams. Muslim clerics during Friday services also have called on returning migrant workers to be tested for HIV and avoid risky behaviors. They also have promoted tolerance toward people living with HIV/AIDS, Radio Free Europe reports ...(continued)
Ask any hepatitis C (HCV) patient who ever had treatment and you will likely learn that treatment is rough on one’s sex life. This includes male and female patients as well as their partners. Reports of sexual dysfunction are so common that researchers looked at this issue. At the 2008 American Association of the Study of Liver Diseases meeting, Dove and colleagues1 designed a study to define the problem. While undergoing treatment with peginterferon and ribavirin, 260 men in 8 U.S. centers, completed sexual health questionnaires. Women were not included in this study ...(continued)
How easy is it to catch hepatitis C from a partner who is carrying the virus? I have just heard that an ex of mine has it
Dr Mark Porter: How easy is it to catch hepatitis C from a partner who is carrying the virus? I have just heard that a past boyfriend of mine is awaiting a liver transplant because of the infection, which he probably picked up when he dabbled with drugs at university. That was more than 15 years ago, but I am now worried that he may have had the virus when we were together and passed it on to me ...(continued)
After living with hepatitis C for more than 20 years, TroyAnderson knows the end is near. But he says it didn't have to be this way.
Kitchener – Troy Anderson was already carrying the virus that was silently attacking his liver when he walked into a navy recruiting office on Duke Street in 1986. Twenty-three years later, he has only to look a few blocks from his Queen Street apartment to be reminded of his eagerness and ignorance that day ...(continued)
NEW YORK—A New York City kidney dialysis center remains closed after state health inspectors found that nine patients contracted hepatitis C there over a seven-year period, according to a report released Thursday. The Life Care Dialysis Center in Manhattan shut its doors in September after the inspectors found unsanitary conditions including blood on chairs and machines, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in its summary of the investigation results. Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by a virus and spread by contact with the blood of an infected person ...(continued)
A recent study conducted by the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS found that 26% of Vancouver's up to 520 female commercial sex workers and 17% of the city's injection drug users are HIV-positive, the Vancouver Sun reports. The overall prevalence of the virus in Vancouver is about 1.21% -- six times the national average -- and the HIV prevalence among the city's estimated 20,000 men who have sex with men, including male sex workers, is estimated at 15%, the Sun reports. The study -- published in the Harm Reduction Journal -- is the first in Canada to estimate the per capita prevalence of HIV for high-risk groups. Researchers used software from the United Nations and the World Health Organization, in addition to 2006 Statistics Canada data and other sources such as population surveys, according to the Sun ...(continued)
Botswana's Health Minister Lesego Motsumi on Monday presented a pilot program to address HIV/tuberculosis coinfection and support health workers who are treating patients with HIV/TB coinfection, Mmegi reports. Motsumi said the increase in cases of multi-drug resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB in the country could undermine the decline in TB cases over the last five years, adding that increased TB prevention, care and support services are needed for both health workers and patients to slow the spread of the disease. The program will be rolled out in six hospitals and two clinics, Motsumi said. She added that the number of reported TB cases in the country decreased from 470 cases per 100,000 people in 2007 to 623 cases per 100,000 people in 2002. In addition, Mostumi said the Ministry of Health plans to redesign the country's malaria program and increase malaria control interventions, with the goal of eradicating the disease. She added that the number of unconfirmed malaria cases increased from an average of 3,446 cases in the first five weeks of each year between 2005 and 2008 to 4,933 cases in the same period of 2009 (Gaotlhobogwe, Mmegi, 3/4).
Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS has recognized that young people today are the AIDS generation meaning they have never known a world without HIV. Preventing HIV/AIDS transmission requires comprehensive and innovative programming that focuses on young adults. With more than half of new HIV/AIDS infections worldwide affecting young people age 15-24, and the highest infection rate being among young men of color having sex with men, it is critical to educate HIV-positive young adults with issues such as ...(continued)
~Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS - Spring Issue 2009
Hong Kong in 2008 recorded 435 new HIV cases, the highest number of annual new cases since record-keeping began in 1984 and a 5% increase from the 414 cases reported in 2007, Hong Kong's The Standard reports. Wong Ka-hing, a consultant for the Center for Health Protection, said the primary mode of HIV transmission continues to be sexual contact, with 145 cases occurring among men who have sex with men and 131 cases through heterosexual contact. "One thing to note is that in many countries, [MSM] sexual transmission is on the rise," Wong said, adding that this could be because of the difficulty reaching out to the MSM population ...(continued)
A video game in Kenya -- called Pamoja Mtaani and launched through a partnership between Warner Bros. Entertainment and the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- is teaching young people in the capital of Nairobi about HIV/AIDS risks and prevention strategies, VOA News reports. The game, which was developed and distributed by the private entertainment company Virtual Heroes, simulates real-life situations in which characters find themselves at risk of contracting HIV. The situations are made to represent realistic settings in the city. In order to advance to the next level of the game, players are required to make the best decisions to solve problems their characters face ...(continued)
People ages 50 and older are more likely to have unprotected sex than younger groups, increasing their risk for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, according to a recently released World Health Organization study, Reuters UK reports. According to the WHO Bulletin report, "The Unexplored Story of HIV and Aging," physicians are failing to diagnose new HIV cases in this population because the virus still is considered to affect mostly younger populations. Older generations are "assumed not to be at risk," but HIV prevalence and incidence in people ages 50 and older "seem surprisingly high, and the risk factors are totally unexplored," the study said ...(continued)
The New York Times on Tuesday examined a new Web site -- launched by the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition, Family Health International, and several U.S. and British public health schools -- that aims to serve as a resource on male circumcision and HIV/AIDS. According to the Times, since WHO and UNAIDS two years ago recommended that male circumcision be made available in countries highly affected by HIV/AIDS to help reduce transmission of the virus through heterosexual sex, much "misinformation has circulated" regarding the procedure in some countries. In addition, there has been a "dangerous surge in complications as traditional healers without sterile instruments began offering cheap circumcisions," the Times reports ...(continued)
The World Food Programme recently expanded a project in Rwanda that provides food to HIV-positive people taking antiretroviral drugs, adding 10,000 participants and increasing the number of project sites from 61 to 138 across 18 districts in the country, the New Times/AllAfrica.com reports. The program is meant to provide food assistance in an effort to improve HIV-positive people's nutritional status and their ability to adhere to treatment regimens. Abdoulaye Balde, WFP country director and representative, said, "Everything has been put in place to take care of [HIV-positive people's] needs." He added that in addition to providing food assistance, WFP is providing patients with access to medical care in collaboration with several partners, including the International Center for AIDS Care Treatment Programs, the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Partners in Health and Family Health International ...(continued)
The Wat Phra Baht Nam Phu temple, a hospice for people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand, has provided care to more than 10,000 HIV-positive people out of the estimated 610,000 people living with the virus in the country, the AFP/MSN.com reports. People often come to the temple anonymously and without notice, according to AFP/MSN.com. The hospice was founded 17 years ago as a place to care for HIV/AIDS patients, many of whom face discrimination because of the high amount of stigma surrounding the disease. People can access some medical services, and the temple's principles are "steeped in its Buddhist faith," AFP/MSN.com reports ...(continued)
The television show "Sesame Street" is launching a program in Nigeria -- called "The Adventures of Kami and Big Bird" -- that aims to teach children about HIV/AIDS, the Sunday Tasmanian reports. Supported by funding from the United States, the program will include original videos and workbooks. Kami -- a character from the South African version of the show, called Takalani Sesame -- is HIV-positive and also is an AIDS orphan. She aims to teach children how to deal with loss and grief using a child-friendly approach. The show is expected to reach 30,000 children in Nigeria, many of whom are orphans or vulnerable children. Educational consultant Ayobisi Osuntusa said that there are about 240,000 HIV cases reported among children in Nigeria. He added, "Education about this disease and how to prevent it needs to begin in early childhood, and who better to construct groundwork for the future than the organization that set the gold standard for educational programming?" (Sunday Tasmanian, 3/1).
The Washington Post on Monday examined a project in India in which health workers "re-spin" safer-sex messages to emphasize the pleasure-related benefits of such practices. The initiative was launched by Anne Philpott, founder of the Pleasure Project. According to the Post, Philpott began the program after promoting female condoms in India, Sri Lanka, Senegal and Zimbabwe as an "erotic accessory." In addition, over the last four years she has "pushed the pleasure principle at AIDS conferences in Bangkok, Sri Lanka and Mexico," the Post reports. "The whole debate about safe sex has been conducted around fear, danger, disease and death," Philpott said, adding, "It is negative. We forgot the pursuit of pleasure. We have to put the sexy back into safer sex." According to Philpott, safer-sex messages often are treated in a "clinical manner or like a teacher wagging their finger." She added that it is "more effective" when health workers find "creative ways to incorporate pleasure and desire into the sexual-health dialogue" ...(continued)
The Press Association on Thursday profiled two British HIV/AIDS advocates who plan to drive from London to South Africa to help build HIV clinics and raise money for the One to One Children's Fund. Jon Beswick, a London architect, and Charlie Curtis, a strategy consultant for the firm Capgemini, said they plan to build waiting rooms for the fund's clinics in an effort to curb the spread of tuberculosis among HIV-positive children. The fund works with more than 100 health clinics in 21 African countries, the Press Association reports. Beswick and Curtis will travel in a specially modified Land Rover and plan to sell advertising space on the outside of the vehicle to raise money for building materials and wages for local people to build the shelters, with any extra funding donated to One to One. They hope to raise about 10,000 British pounds -- or about $14,272 -- and plan to travel through 40 African countries for about six to nine months, according to the Press Association ...(continued0
VOA News on Wednesday profiled Pernell Williams, an HIV/AIDS counselor in Washington, D.C., who provides HIV testing and counseling at the Whitman-Walker Clinic's Max Robinson Center. The D.C. Department of Health reports that 80% of HIV/AIDS cases in the city occur among blacks. Williams provides help to people who test positive by guiding them to other HIV services in the clinic and the community. In addition, he provides counseling on HIV prevention and risk reduction ...(continued)
The Colorado Senate on Wednesday approved a bill (S.B. 179) requiring HIV testing for pregnant women to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of the virus, the Colorado Springs Gazette reports. The bill would make several changes to a current state law regarding communicable diseases, and the HIV provision allows pregnant women to opt out of testing. Sen. Lois Tochtrop (D), a nurse and the bill's sponsor, said the risk of MTCT can be reduced from 25% to about 2% with drugs and preventive care. Sen. Dave Schultheis (R) was the only senator to vote against the bill, saying that if more infants are born HIV-positive, society will be taught about the risks of promiscuous sex (Colorado Springs Gazette, 2/25). During the bill's debate, Schultheis said sexual promiscuity "causes a lot of problems in our state, one of which, obviously, is the contraction of HIV" (Ingold, Denver Post, 2/26) ...(continued)
A campaign financed by ActionAid International called "No to Sexual Abuse of Girls in Education" has led to a network of clubs for girls in schools and communities in the Manica province of Mozambique, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The campaign's goal is to reduce sexual abuse of girls, and since 2006, 30 clubs in the province have been established that work with neighborhood watch groups to report cases of abuse to authorities. The groups also publicize laws regarding sexual abuse. According to IRIN/PlusNews, there were four cases of sexual abuse of girls reported in 2008 in the province, down from 15 cases reported in 2007. IRIN/PlusNews also profiled one of the four cases, which involved a seven-year-old girl who was raped and later tested positive for HIV (IRIN/PlusNews, 2/25) ...(continued)
There is one poll number that may be more important to watch than any other if we have a big debate about health reform: The percentage of Americans who think that they or their families would be better off if the president and the Congress enacted major health reform legislation. It's a number that signals whether people think that health reform legislation will actually help them with the problems they are having in the current health care system. Or, whether critics of health reform are successfully playing on the public's underlying fears -- fairly or unfairly, depending on your perspective -- as they did in the last health reform debate in the early 1990s. According to our latest tracking poll just out this week, 38% of the American people think that health reform would make them or their family better off and 11% think they would be worse off. Democrats, younger people, and lower income people are much more likely to think they would benefit. Forty-three percent of the American people think health reform will have no impact on them. Of those who think they will be unaffected, 38% are Democrats and more likely to be pro reform in general based on our polling; 24% are Republicans, who are less likely to favor reform; and 30% are independents ...(continued)
Cable Positive is excited to announce the call for entries into our 2009 Positively Outstanding Programming (POP) Awards, honoring exceptional HIV/AIDS-related cable television. Original programming aired from January 1 - December 31, 2008 is eligible for recognition in the following categories:
* Outstanding Biographical Program
* Outstanding Community Partnership (for cable systems and local cable outlets)
* Outstanding Documentary
* Outstanding News Coverage
* Outstanding News Magazine
* Outstanding Original Film/Movie
* Outstanding Original Series
* Outstanding Public Service Announcement (PSA)
* Outstanding Special Programming
* Outstanding Public Service Announcement (PSA)
* Outstanding Program
* Outstanding Original Spanish Language Public Service Announcement (PSA)
* Outstanding Original Spanish Language Programming
* POP Network of the Year
The POP Awards demonstrate the important role cable television has in promoting HIV/AIDS prevention, raising awareness and reducing stigma and fear surrounding the disease. Past winners have come from networks like Univision, CNN, MTV, BET, and Showtime. Entry Deadline is March 20, 2009. Applications are available by clicking title. Nominees for the 8th Annual POP Awards will be announced in the spring of 2009.
Thank you, Max Johnson Cable Positive
~Cable Positive - 02/25/2009
A majority of HIV-positive prison inmates in Texas do not fill their prescriptions in an appropriate amount of time after release, creating a threat to public health, according to a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Houston Chronicle reports. According to researchers from the University of Texas Medical Branch-Galveston, Baylor College of Medicine, and other universities in Texas and other states, the study is the first to track people living with HIV from prison release to care on the outside. Researchers studied 2,115 inmates living with HIV in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison system between 2004 and 2007. They found that 5.4% filled their prescriptions within 10 days of release, while 15.5% did so within 30 days and 30% within 60 days (Ackerman, Houston Chronicle, 2/24). According to the researchers, 90% or more of the inmates did not fill a prescription soon enough to avoid interruptions in their treatment regimens. The study also found that black and Hispanic inmates were 60% less likely than white inmates to fill a prescription within 10 days of release, and 30% less likely to do so within 30 days, according to Reuters ...(continued)
Actor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Roger Moore on Monday announced that he plans to donate proceeds from a concert in Israel to a program in which Israeli physicians train health workers in Swaziland to perform male circumcisions in an effort to curb the spread of HIV, the AP/San Francisco Chronicle reports (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 2/24). Moore will donate the proceeds from an appearance at the fourth International Eilat Chamber Music Festival, according to the Jerusalem Post. "Prevention is the best cure of disease," Moore said (Siegel-Itzkovich, Jerusalem Post, 2/24) ...(continued)
Some nongovernmental organizations and HIV/AIDS advocates in Kenya warn that one of East Africa's last remaining hunter-gatherer communities could be at an increased risk of HIV because of their isolation and lack of awareness, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Pattita Tiongoi -- a program officer with the Centre for Minority Rights and Development, which advocates for the rights of Kenya's indigenous people -- said that it is not uncommon for the Ogiek people, who number around 20,000, to be completely ignorant of HIV because there are no "campaigns at all directed at them." She added that the government does not "even have statistics about the prevalence amongst them" ...(continued)
The Caribbean will not make significant gains in the fight against HIV/AIDS if governments in the region do not act to decriminalize homosexuality, Stephen Lewis, director of AIDS-Free World, said recently while visiting the region, the Caribbean Media Corporation reports. According to Lewis, the MSM community, "often disparaged, abused and certainly discriminated against, in order to seize legitimacy has sex with women," thus spreading the virus further into the general population. Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said that it is a "profound error in judgment not to understand that if you are going to deal with the pandemic and subdue it, you have to deal with" MSM and decriminalize homosexuality. Lewis said that current laws in the region "give legitimacy and authenticity to the stigma and discrimination which so harasses the gay community." Legislation aimed at ending discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS will be ineffective if homosexuality continues to be illegal, he said (Caribbean Media Corporation, 2/23).
The Medical Council of Thailand recently proposed a new regulation that would allow teenagers younger than age 18 to receive no-cost HIV tests without parental consent, the Bangkok Post reports. The council also is planning to draft a regulation that would allow teens to keep their medical records confidential ...(continued)
About 42% of pregnant women in Swaziland are HIV-positive, an increase of 3% since last year, according to a government report that was released on Friday, the AP/Google.com reports. According to the report, the increase likely is because more women's lives are being prolonged through improved access to antiretroviral drugs. About 185,000 people in Swaziland -- which has a population of one million and the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rate worldwide -- are living with HIV. About 30,000 people have access to antiretrovirals in the country, and average life expectancy is 37 years ...(continued)
We're excited to introduce the Clearinghouse on Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention -- www.malecircumcision.org -- a new web-based resource on male circumcision for HIV prevention that AVAC, Family Health International (FHI) and WHO/UNAIDS have developed.
Launched today, the website provides a comprehensive array of materials including recent publications, technical guidance documents, reports from civil society forums, summaries of the research to date, reports from countries and programs as they emerge, as well as discussions of issues that require attention going forward.
Introducing male circumcision for HIV prevention in a way that optimizes its benefits and minimizes risks to both men and women can only happen through communication, information sharing, discussion and dialogue with health providers, policy makers, advocates, activists, donors and many other communities. We hope that this website serves as a resource for these conversations.
AVAC will be continuing its collaboration with FHI and WHO/UNAIDS to maintain and expand the content. We are especially interested in developments in civil society engagement, and continuing our ongoing work around the implications of male circumcision for women and other civil society concerns. If you have resources, questions or needs you'd like to share around these issues please send them on, either to avac@avac.org or info@malecircumcision.org.
Below we've included the full press release regarding the launch. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!
College-aged minorities living in Chicago do not trust the HIV/AIDS prevention messages being presented to them and are less likely to seek treatment as a result, according to a study to be released next week at the Illinois Youth and HIV/AIDS Forum, the Chi-Town Daily News reports. The study -- which Chicago-based not-for-profit Children's Place Association funded and researchers from the University of Chicago conducted -- looked at seven focus groups that totaled about 70 college-aged people and included blacks, Hispanics and whites of both sexes and gay men ...(continued)
During a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Bangkok, Thailand, last week, officials discussed how the global economic crisis could affect migrant workers and the spread of HIV in the region, Thailand's The Nation reports. The meeting included a discussion among officials from member countries' Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Health and Labor; United Nations agencies; the ASEAN secretariat; and other organizations. Officials said that the economic downturn could affect the lives of migrant workers as the number of such workers returning to the region might increase as the number of people who have lost their jobs overseas increases. In addition, people who have recently lost jobs in Southeast Asia could move overseas in search of work ...(continued)
The Boston Globe on Thursday examined a photographic portrait series by Jonathan Torgovnik called "Intended Consequences: Rwandan Children Born of Rape," which depicts some of the estimated 20,000 Tutsi rape survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide who had children following the rapes. Torgovnik said he was inspired to take the photographs after a 2006 trip to Rwanda, during which he met a woman living with HIV. The woman said she had contracted the virus after begin raped by members of the Hutu militia during the genocide, and then gave birth to a son as a result of one of the rapes. "They are suffering multiple traumas," Torgovnik said, adding, "They have to live with the memories of the genocide and their families being murdered in front of them, of being raped multiple times and humiliated, of having a child from this experience and most of them also of contracting HIV from this experience. And then they are rejected by their families and their communities because of the stigma associated with rape, HIV and of having a 'child of the militia.'" Torgovnik and filmmaker Jules Shell have launched a foundation, called Foundation Rwanda, to pay for medical care, school tuition and other services, and raise awareness worldwide about the situation (Taylor, Boston Globe, 2/19).
Advocates in Vancouver, Canada, in a Feb. 10 letter said that the city police department's 2009 business plan to increase drug enforcement for the Downtown Eastside area also could increase the spread of HIV, the Vancouver Courier reports. The letter -- signed by seven not-for-profit organizations and scheduled to go before the police department board on Wednesday -- was sent to Police Chief Jim Chu and Mayor Gregor Robertson. It said the plan to increase patrols, street checks and ticketing in an area "whose population is disproportionately disabled, aboriginal, HIV-positive and hepatitis C-positive" could increase the spread of HIV and hepatitis C, as well as "limit access to critical health services and will not achieve its desired goals." The Courier reports that the business plan also calls for a priority on seizing drugs rather than prosecuting people for simple drug possession. The letter was signed by directors of AIDS Vancouver, the Positive Women's Network, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the YouthCO AIDS Society, the Asian Society for the Intervention of AIDS, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the British Columbia Person with AIDS Society ...(continued)
Deadline for submission is March 2, 2009: KaiserEDU.org is now accepting entries for its Annual Essay Contest, giving undergraduate and graduate students a chance to win a prize of $1,000 by writing an essay addressing the elements of health reform that President Obama's team should focus on in 2009.
TOPIC: President Obama has stated that reforming the health care system is one of his top priorities, and there is broad interest from policymakers and the public in making a change. During the campaign, he outlined a framework for reforming health care. The essay should cover: what elements of his plan should be prioritized given the current economic crisis, what elements are most likely to garner support and which ones will be most challenging and why? Click title for full details.
The Boston Globe on Tuesday profiled Bruce Walker, an HIV/AIDS specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a Harvard Medical School professor. Walker in 2001 traveled to Durban, South Africa -- a trip that "set in motion a chain of ever-deepening involvement" for Walker and his research team at MGH, which includes playing "a leading role in the global hunt for an AIDS vaccine" -- according to the Globe. The Globe reports that Walker has raised tens of millions of dollars from American benefactors to support "innovative projects" in South Africa that include treatment, training and research programs. According to the Globe, Walker's work has "transformed his career and touched many lives in Boston as well as South Africa" (Smith, Boston Globe, 2/17) ...(continued)
An increase in the number of HIV cases among women older than age 50 in Brazil has led the government to target the population with a new prevention campaign launched on Friday to coincide with festivities during Carnival, Inter Press Service reports. HIV prevalence among the population has more than tripled since 1996, from 3.7 HIV cases per 100,000 women over age 50 to 11.6 cases per 100,000 in 2006. A survey by the Ministry of Health revealed that although 55.3% of women between ages 50 and 64 are sexually active, only 28% are using condoms with casual partners, or men who are not regular partners. Health Minister Jose Temporao said the trend is "worrying" in light of the increase in HIV cases among older women. According to Inter Press Service, HIV prevalence among the general population has stabilized, and about 630,000 people are living with the virus ...(continued)
Menlo Park , CA, 18 February 2009 – Senior executives of leading media companies from Latin America announced the establishment of the Iniciativa de Medios Latinoamericanos sobre el SIDA (IMLAS) – the first Latin American Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS. This announcement follows a meeting last month held in conjunction with the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) Conference. Organized in response to the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), a U.N.-supported effort launched in 2004 by the Kaiser Family Foundation together with UNAIDS to mobilize media around the world in response to the pandemic, the new Partnership promotes collaboration and leverages resources among media across the region to increase knowledge and reduce stigma.
Founding members of IMLAS include: Canal 13 (Argentina), Ecuavisa (Ecuador), TC Television (Ecuador), Telefe (Argentina), Televisa (Mexico), TV Azteca (Mexico), and TV Globo (Brazil). The Partnership will work to expand its membership across Latin America, with the goal of uniting the region’s broadcast community in response to AIDS. The GMAI has partnered with Fundación Huésped, a non-governmental organization based in Buenos Aires, to provide day-to-day operational support for IMLAS.
Recognizing the unique power of media to inform, connect with life-saving services, and challenge stereotypes, participating broadcast executives agreed to develop and coordinate a series of concrete initiatives, including a regional public information campaign and journalism workshops and other skills-building programs. Other broadcasters from the across the region will be encouraged to join the coalition to extend reach.
“Last year, Mexico City hosted the XVII International AIDS Conference, during which UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa called on global leaders to focus attention and resources on the global AIDS crisis, including the often overlooked, but growing, pandemic in Latin America,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director of Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation, which is the Secretariat for the Global Media AIDS Initiative. “This commitment by Latin American broadcasters is an important step toward motivating social change and delivering life-saving information to young people across the region.”
“Although Latin America is the third most impacted region of the world in terms of the number of people living with HIV/AIDS, after Africa and the Caribbean, the epidemic in the region is often invisible. The decision by mass media to come together in an effort to increase the amount and quality of the information they offer through different programming formats creates an unprecedented opportunity to reach our audiences with information, link them to resources, and challenge stigma,” said Leandro Cahn, Director of Communication of Fundación Huésped.
Since its inception, the GMAI has launched coordinated, large-scale media partnerships in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean. The IMLAS marks the first such mobilization in Latin America and the fifth GMAI-supported regional media coalition.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer and Fauzi Bowo, governor of Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, on Thursday signed a memorandum of understanding to expand HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment at 30 community health centers in the city, the Jakarta Post reports. The agreement "represents another step forward for HIV prevention and treatment in Indonesia," Farmer said, adding that Australia is "proud to be assisting Indonesia in its commitment to combat the spread of HIV and support those already living with the virus" ...(continued)
Uganda's Ministry of Health will reintroduce female condoms as part of its HIV/AIDS prevention program in response to increased demand, IRIN/PlusNews reports. According to IRIN/PlusNews, the government in 2007 halted distribution of the female condom because of insufficient demand and complaints that the condoms were not user-friendly. However, a recent health ministry analysis determined that women in the country sought an HIV prevention method that allowed them control over preventing sexually transmitted infections, including HIV, and unintended pregnancies ...(continued)
The Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi has launched a program to bring HIV-positive women together to grow crops in an effort to improve their access to better nutrition and help maintain their health, VOA News reports. The coalition -- which is running the program in the northern district of Rumphi, Malawi -- also is encouraging members to rear a variety of farm animals. Formed with support from ActionAid International, the program engages women in development activities and teaches them to grow nutritious foods, according to the district's food nutrition officer, Memory Chirwa ...(continued)
New HIV/AIDS guidelines in Kenya will include door-to-door testing services in an effort to address the increasing spread of the disease among couples in the country, the Daily Nation reports. Additional initiatives include self-testing, national testing campaigns, and an added emphasis on couple, family, infant and child diagnosis, according to officials at the launch of the National Guidelines for HIV Testing and Counseling in the capital of Nairobi. James Gesami, assistant minister of Public Health and Sanitation, said that the "focus on people in marriages and relationships" will be included in the country's HIV testing and counseling programs as they are among the "areas of concern." The Nation reports that almost 50% of new HIV cases are recorded among married couples and that the new guidelines will attempt to reduce the trend. The Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey indicates that 45% of married people living with the virus have a partner who is HIV-negative -- meaning that about 350,000 couples in the country are discordant ...(continued)
Family mechanisms of support should become the focus of efforts to help children affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide, according to a report released Tuesday by the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS, AFP/Google.com reports. The study -- called "Home Truths: Facing the Facts on Children, AIDS and Poverty" -- calls on initiatives that aim to help the two million HIV-positive children worldwide, as well as the estimated 12 million AIDS orphans, to refocus their efforts on the family ...(continued)
The number of reported tuberculosis cases is increasing in Tanzania in part because of high HIV prevalence, weak health infrastructure and poverty, Fred Lwilla, senior program officer at the country's National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Program, said recently in Tanzania's capital of Dar es Salaam, the Guardian/IPP Media reports.
Lwilla said that being HIV-positive is the greatest risk factor for TB, adding that a lack of awareness about the link between the two diseases is hindering government efforts to control TB. He said that increased food insecurity and malnutrition in the country could have a negative effect on HIV/AIDS and TB, adding, "There is therefore a need for improving TB prevention, diagnosis and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS through intensified TB case finding, preventive therapy and infection control." In addition, TB and HIV programs should integrate services, and affected communities should work together to reduce the TB burden among HIV-positive people, Lwilla said.
Lwilla also called on the media to increase coverage of TB, saying, "TB should be given prominence in news coverage so that the disease could be well known to the people." He noted that media coverage of HIV/AIDS has led to increased knowledge of the disease among the general public but that TB has not received adequate media coverage (Kigwangallah, Guardian/IPP Media, 2/10).
Chrissie became infected following a blood transfusion after giving birth. For 20 years Chrissie Semple carried the hepatitis C virus without knowing it. She had become infected after a blood transfusion in Germany following a Caesarean section for her youngest daughter. Recent statistics show there are about 100,000 people like Chrissie who are unsuspecting carriers of hep C ...(continued)
For all of the discussion of fancy new technologies that pose problems in health care, it’s sometimes the simple things that create daily trouble. Like shots. Unsafe injection practices have contributed to outbreaks of hepatitis in the U.S. in recent years, and are a leading cause of infections in doctors’ offices, outpatient clinics and long-term care facilities, Laura Landro writes this morning. Also, take a look at our posts from last year about a Nevada outbreak of hepatitis C tied to unsafe use of syringes ...(continued)
HIV-positive people who begin drug regimens soon after infection might have better treatment outcomes than those who delay taking medication, according to a study presented Monday at the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Montreal, Canada, Bloomberg reports. Radjin Steingrover of the Academic Medical Center in Amsterdam presented the study. Peter Leone -- HIV/AIDS researcher at the University of North Carolina and medical director of the North Carolina Department of Health's HIV department -- said that the study is the first to demonstrate that immediate treatment might benefit people living with HIV ...(continued)
Festus Mogae, the former president of Botswana, on Monday in Mozambique's capital of Maputo said that Africans should not give up on the fight against HIV/AIDS, adding that despite the efforts already made on the continent, much more is required, AIM/AllAfrica.com reports. Mogae said, "We must not desist. We have already done a lot, but Africans need to do a lot more to finish this pandemic." According to Mogae, one of the "factors that facilitates the spread of HIV/AIDS is that men have many partners, many girlfriends, and that's a problem." He added, "We can do a lot about this. We have to change our behavior" ...(continued)
Recent increases in condom prices in Ukraine have led some advocates to express concerns about a possible corresponding rise in the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, Russia Today reports. Since October 2008, the price of condoms in Ukraine has increased by 40% to 60%, possibly as a result of the declining value of Ukrainian currency. In addition, retailers and the country's only condom distributor have encountered difficulty obtaining credit, and local condom producers have limited cash flow. According to advocates, the price increases could particularly affect young people in Ukraine because they are the country's major condom purchasers despite having the least money to spend. According to Russia Today, the not-for-profit organization Anti-AIDS has warned that Ukraine could face increases in the spread of HIV and other STIs as a result of the condom price increases. Ukraine has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Europe, with 19,000 new HIV cases diagnosed in 2008, Russia Today reports (Russia Today, 2/5).
Research has shown "a small amount of protection from a vaginal gel that acts by binding up the AIDS virus and preventing it from invading cells," according to a study presented Monday at the 16th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections in Montreal, Canada, the Washington Post reports (Brown, Washington Post, 2/10). The experimental microbicide, called PRO 2000 and manufactured by Indevus Pharmaceuticals, is designed to prevent HIV from attaching to certain white blood cells. According to the study -- which primarily aimed to test the gel's safety -- the PRO 2000 gel is 30% effective in preventing HIV infection. Although the findings are not statistically significant, the study is the first to demonstrate a possible beneficial effect from using microbicides. According to NIH, an effectiveness rate of 33% would be statistically significant ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS is disproportionately affecting blacks in the U.S., with almost half of all new infections occurring in the population, Anthony Fauci, director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said recently, Reuters reports. According to Fauci's statement, which was released to mark National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on Saturday, blacks comprise 12% of the U.S. population but account for almost 50% of all people living with HIV in the country. Fauci pointed to the majority black city of Washington, D.C., where one in 20 residents is living with HIV -- about the same proportion of people in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, one in 50 district residents has developed AIDS, according to Fauci ...(continued)
The Financial Gazette on Friday examined challenges associated with HIV/tuberculosis coinfection in Southern Africa. According to the Gazette, although TB and HIV/AIDS are leading causes of death in many African countries, many people are unaware of their TB or HIV status. Tim France, a physician at a Thai health and development organization, said the global health community should "stop thinking of the two diseases in separate bodies." He added that HIV and TB programs should increase spending and efforts to treat the two diseases. Some HIV and TB advocates have said the media should promote awareness and education of HIV/TB coinfection among the general public. Joshua Chigodora, a resource center program officer at the Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Service, recently called on the media to highlight challenges associated with HIV/TB coinfection, saying, "It's time to transfer HIV advocacy skills to TB advocacy." According to SAFAIDS, the "mandate for the media to advocate greater awareness of the linkages between TB and HIV is even more pronounced" because of the increase in multi-drug resistant and extensively drug-resistant TB (Financial Gazette, 2/6).
A survey of 29 black men who have sex with men in Jackson, Miss., identified some common behaviors that place them at a risk of contracting HIV, according to a study published Friday in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, Reuters Health reports. The risk factors include unprotected anal intercourse, sex with men who were older, and not seeking annual HIV tests. According to Reuters, CDC released the report to coincide with National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, which will take place Feb. 7 (Reuters Health, 2/5) ...(continued)
In his inaugural address, President Obama vowed to "restore science to its rightful place," refreshing words after eight long years of an administration that placed ideology over data, time and again. The detrimental impact of STDs, including HIV, on the American public—most particularly among people of color and gay men—is clear. And the persistent under-funding of science-based prevention and sound public health infrastructure to combat these and other infectious diseases is now worsening due to the economic crisis. Yet, in debates about the economic stimulus bill, science and public health seems to have once again been put asunder when it comes to the inclusion of funds to combat STDs – even though the short-term spending would create jobs and protect the nation's health ...(continued)
Ethiopian first lady Azeb Mesfin, the newly elected president of the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS, recently said that women in Africa need increased political power to effectively fight HIV/AIDS on the continent, the Panafrican News Agency reports. Mesfin in her inaugural address said that African women "must have access to power. If we want to win the war against the poverty, we must empower them also to fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic." Mainstream politics in Africa often marginalize women, leaving them without the power to influence decisions on their social and economic development, Mesfin said, adding that women "must be free to make choices to reduce HIV/AIDS" ...(continued)
Jordan's Ministry of Health has launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign at the country's University of Science and Technology and plans to implement the campaign in all 50 public and private universities and colleges nationwide, Bassam Hijjawi, director of the department of disease control, announced on Monday, the Jordan Times reports. According to Hijjawi, the one-year campaign promotes HIV testing among students and will be run in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education ...(continued)
IRIN/PlusNews on Tuesday examined the effect of Lesotho's food crisis on HIV-positive people in the country, many of whom are unable to obtain nutritious food. According to IRIN/PlusNews, Lesotho's food production has suffered in recent years from erratic weather, soil erosion and the burden of HIV/AIDS on the subsistence farming system. HIV-positive people need to consume 10% to 30% more calories than HIV-negative people, and people who take antiretroviral drugs on an empty stomach can feel sicker. In addition, the effectiveness of the medicine can be reduced without proper nutrition, IRIN/PlusNews reports ...(continued)
The 2009 edition of the Black AIDS Institute’s annual State of AIDS in Black America report lays out both the promise and the peril of the unique moment at which we’ve arrived in this epidemic. On one hand, the historic election of Barack Obama and a congressional majority that has been more supportive of the AIDS fight offers great opportunity. Similarly, Black America is engaged in the struggle to end AIDS like never before. Together, these two realities could create real, lasting change in the course of this epidemic. At the same time, 2008 witnessed great setbacks, particularly in the effort to prevent the virus’ spread. We are seeing the outcome of too many years of neglect, at both the governmental and communal level. Click title to see whole article.
Indonesia plans to use a $130 million grant from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for a program that will focus on the 12 provinces most affected by HIV/AIDS in the country, BBC News reports. According to BBC News, for the program to be successful, it will have to focus on marginalized populations -- such as commercial sex workers, injection drug users and men who have sex with men -- that have "not always been well-targeted in the past" ...(continued)
Officials and HIV/AIDS advocates in Uganda during a recent meeting expressed concern about commercial sex workers in the country's capital of Kampala who re-use female condoms to protect themselves from contracting HIV or other sexually transmitted infections, Uganda's New Vision reports. The meeting, organized by Uganda's Ministry of Health and Population Services International, aimed to determine the best strategies for marketing female condoms ...(continued)
Needle-exchange programs are not widely available in most of Ireland, which could be increasing the risk of HIV and other infectious diseases among injection drug users, according to a government-appointed report recently released by the National Advisory Committee on Drugs and the National Drugs Strategy Team, the Irish Examiner reports. The report found that six out of 10 regional drug task forces do not provide needle-exchange services but have IDUs living in the area. In addition, task forces that do provide needle-exchange services -- primarily located in the capital of Dublin and on the east coast -- often do not make the services available on a 24-hour basis or on weekends. According to the report, the "review of the current provision of needle exchange clearly highlights the fact that, despite the identification of service needs and the inclusion of specific actions in the (National Drugs Strategy) on development of services, provision is still largely concentrated in local drug task force areas with inadequate coverage at a national level despite the evidence of drug misuse throughout Ireland" ...(continued)
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is efficiently transmitted via shared needles and other injection equipment, and chronic hepatitis C is therefore common among injection drug users (IDUs). In June 2008, Joseph Amon with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and colleagues, who looked at more than 5,000 IDUs in four large U.S. cities, reported an overall HCV prevalence rate of 65% during 1994-1996, falling to 35% by 2002-2004. In some IDU networks, however, researchers have seen rates as high as 90% ...(continued)
The information in this guide is designed to help you understand and manage HCV and is not intended as medical advice. All persons with HCV should consult a medical practitioner for diagnosis and treatment of HCV. Permission to reprint this document is granted and encouraged with credit to the author and the Hepatitis C Support Project ...(continued)
The marathon race to bring the next hepatitis C drug to the market is coming to a close. In the last couple of weeks, both Schering-Plough (NYSE: SGP) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: VRTX) have announced that their phase 3 trials have finished enrolling patients ...(continued)
In an effort to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Namibia's farming sector, the Agricultural Employers Association has requested that Quiet Storm, an industrial theater group, perform informative plays to its members, Namibia's New Era reports. The program was initiated by Pharm Access -- a nongovernmental organization that provides health care, including HIV/AIDS treatment ...(continued)
Applying for disability benefits from Social Security can be a cumbersome and slow process. Due to staffing that has not kept up with the demand, it can take anywhere from six to twenty-six weeks or even longer to get a decision on your claim. Just starting the process can be time consuming due to the amount of paperwork required to start a claim. Once the paperwork is turned in to the Social Security office, someone there then has to enter all that information into their computer system. Because of that, it can take up to two weeks for the file to be opened in their system and sent to the Analyst to actually begin work on it ...(continued)
The information in this guide is designed to help you understand and manage HCV and is not intended as medical advice. All persons with HCV should consult a medical practitioner for diagnosis and treatment of HCV. Permission to reprint this document is granted and encouraged with credit to the author and the Hepatitis C Support Project. Click title to read.
Welcome to HCSP Fact Sheet Web page. The three different types of fact sheets are geared towards different audiences depending on their need or requirement for information. The Fact Sheets range from short, easy to understand, but relevant information to the more technical aspects of hepatitis C. Click title to read.
A TORQUAY father has shared his experience of the silent killer hepatitis C, as the Department of Health launches a new campaign to highlight the seriousness of the illness today. Simon, 36, a student at Exeter University, says he contracted the disease as a result of 14 years of intravenous drug use, but he has since turned his life around ...(continued)
Around a third of people don't know how hepatitis C can be passed from person to person, according to new research commissioned by the Department of Health (DH), published today (26 January 2009). The findings come as a major hepatitis C awareness campaign is launched to reach out to the estimated 100,000 people in England who are unaware they have the infection and stop others getting it ...(continued)
Martin Brook says the government is stalling on his compensation package after he contracted hepatitis C from a tainted blood transfusion. The black hospital pager rests on the coffee table by his side, a messenger of hope he watches anxiously for news that a new liver has been found to replace the one dying inside him from hepatitis C ...(continued)
Some proponents of female genital cutting in Kisii, Kenya, are claiming that the practice will reduce a woman's risk of contracting HIV, IRIN/PlusNews reports. These proponents say FGC prevents HIV because women will have reduced sexual desire after it is performed, resulting in fewer sexual partners and a decreased risk for contracting the virus. Researchers have challenged the notion that there is a difference sexual desire among women who have undergone FGC with those who have not, IRIN/PlusNews reports. After FGC was outlawed for girls younger than age 18, local residents say that proponents of the procedure have become "even more aggressive in their efforts to keep [FGC] alive." Jacqueline Mogaka, a local advocate against FGC, said, "I do not know where this idea of female genital mutilation being a remedy for HIV infection originated, but it is a strong belief" in Kisii, adding, "Young girls are now even voluntarily turning up for the cut because of this belief" ...(continued)
To celebrate the opening of our offices in New York, this year Heroes in the Struggle, the Black AIDS Institute's Gala Event, will be held both in New York city, on December 1, 2008 (World AIDS Day) at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and in Los Angeles on February 4, 2009 (just before National Black AIDS Awareness Day) at Walt Disney Concert Hall ...(continued)
The Spokane Spokesman-Review on Wednesday examined a case in Washington state in which an HIV-positive man was denied life insurance by Farmers New World Life Insurance. Some advocates had hoped that the discrimination case would "open doors" for people living with the virus who are denied life insurance, the Spokesman-Review reports, adding that those hopes were "dashed" by a ruling that said Gerald Hebert -- an employee with the state's Human Rights Commission who issued a complaint with the insurance commissioner's office in 2006 -- was not illegally discriminated against because of his HIV-positive status ...(continued)
President Obama has promised to "develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies" in this first year of his presidency. In August, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will once again lead the bi-annual National HIV Prevention Conference (NHPC). As a national conference, the NHPC must strive to advance HIV prevention with the full force of the federal government. The conference should emphasize cross-governmental collaboration for HIV prevention to achieve this vision ...(continued)
Commercial sex workers in Costa Rica will have the opportunity to learn about HIV prevention methods from other sex workers through a new program implemented by a local nongovernmental organization and funded by the World Bank, the EFE/Market Watch reports. Officials with the NGO -- called the "La Sala" Association for the Improvement of Quality of Life of Sexual Workers -- will train 22 sex workers to deliver messages about prevention, including condom use, and information about the sex workers' rights. Project coordinator Maria Diaz said the goal of the program is to "empower sexual workers in the matter of prevention" ...(continued)
IRIN/PlusNews on Monday examined the stigma some pregnant women living with HIV face, particularly in Southern Africa. According to a study of U.S. women living with HIV released at the XVII International AIDS Conference last year, about 50% of the respondents said they believed women living with the virus could have children if the appropriate care to prevent mother-to-child-transmission is taken. However, about the same percentage said they felt society strongly discouraged them from doing this, showing what researchers call a "dichotomy between the women's views about their bodies and society's" views, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Emma Tuahepa, an advocate and the first woman in Namibia to publically disclose her HIV-positive status, said that pregnant women living with HIV in the country are still stigmatized, despite the availability of services to prevent MTCT for the past seven years. She said that women who are living with the virus are "seen as irresponsible in getting pregnant, in not looking at your own health ... you are seen as adding to an existing problem" ...(continued)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data today confirming what AIDS watchdogs have been saying for years: Black gay and bisexual men and Black women are being devastated by HIV/AIDS. That ugly reality is now indisputable. But what’s just as clear is that resources currently dedicated to changing that reality are woefully inadequate and not targeted at the heart of the problem ...(continued)
IRIN News on Thursday examined the challenges of HIV-positive women in Liberia, including unemployment, gender discrimination and violence. According to a 2008 government report, although women account for about half of the 100,000 HIV-positive people in Liberia, women and girls are "doubly disadvantaged" by HIV/AIDS because they often serve as caregivers as well as patients. The report noted that "little is known about how HIV is affecting vulnerable populations" in Liberia, including women, young people, rural residents and children. In addition, violence against women "continues to permeate society and rape is among the most frequently reported crimes," the report said ...(continued)
In 2008, the Virginia Health Department's Eastern Region had a rate of 19 new HIV infections reported for every 100,000 residents, which is nearly twice the rate in Northern Virginia and higher than the state rate of 12 infections for every 100,000 residents, Newport News Daily Press reports. That same year, there were 332 new HIV infections reported in the region, which includes Hampton Roads, the Middle Peninsula and the Eastern Shore ...(continued)
Some transgendered people living with HIV in Indonesia face discrimination and experience stigma when accessing health care, the Indonesian Transvestites Communication Forum said recently, the Jakarta Post reports. The group spoke about the status of transgendered and gay people in the country -- particularly those living with HIV/AIDS -- at a hearing held Thursday with members of the House of Representatives' Commission IX, which handles citizenship, health, labor and transmigration affairs. Yulianus Rettoblaut, head of the forum, said that the group came to the meeting "with high hopes that legislators will articulate the grievances" of transgendered people in the country, "whose social, economic and health rights are neglected" ...(continued)
Experts who have studied children with cancer and HIV/AIDS recommend parents tell their child about a hepatitis C infection as soon as she or he can understand the information, starting at age 8 or earlier if the child is asking detailed medical questions.
Early disclosure is critical to how the child and family cope and live with hepatitis C. How that disclosure occurs, and the building
process that leads to that moment, hinges on the child’s age, maturity, family situation and medical condition ...(continued)
Today is World AIDS day and I’m thinking about President-elect Barack Obama. As a 52-year-old Black gay man with HIV, I have many reasons to welcome the inauguration of Barack Obama. A big one is that an Obama administration has enormous potential to reinvigorate a struggle that has been allowed to flag over the last eight years: our national fight against HIV/AIDS. With our country facing so many national challenges – two wars, a financial meltdown, and the growing threat of environmental devastation – it may be tempting to relegate the AIDS epidemic to the lower rung of national priorities. Yet that would be a grave mistake. Every year, more than 56,000 people in this country contract HIV ...(continued)
The Farmworker Association of Florida next month will begin a survey targeting Hispanic and Haitian youth that is designed to identify the best ways to educate teenagers and their families about HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. The program, funded with a more than $700,000, three-year grant from the Florida Department of Health, will cover seven counties in the state ...(continued)
Testing positive for antibodies to the hepatitis C virus (anti-HCV) may be scary, but now you have information that can improve
your health and well-being. This fact sheet will explore what testing positive means, and what you can do about it. Don’t panic
– the knowledge you now have will help you make healthier decisions for you and your liver. Information is the key to living
well with hepatitis C ...(continued)
The Farmworker Association of Florida next month will begin a survey targeting Hispanic and Haitian youth that is designed to identify the best ways to educate teenagers and their families about HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reports. The program, funded with a more than $700,000, three-year grant from the Florida Department of Health, will cover seven counties in the state ...(continued)
Many people with hepatitis C feel isolated and find it difficult to cope with living with a chronic illness such as HCV. Family and friends can be a great source of comfort and support, but support from people who have faced some of the same fears and challenges can be crucial in helping people understand, manage and live successfully with hepatitis C ...(continued)
Women continue to bear a disproportionate burden of the long-term health consequences of STDs. In 2007, the chlamydia rate among women was three times that of men (543.6 cases per 100,000 women, compared to 190 cases per 100,000 men). The gonorrhea rate was also higher among women (123.5 per 100,000 women, compared to 113.7 per 100,000 among men).
Although the two diseases can be easily diagnosed and treated, they often have no symptoms and go undetected. If left untreated, up to 40 percent of chlamydia and gonorrhea infections in women can result in pelvic inflammatory disease - a condition that causes as many as 50,000 women to become infertile each year. Untreated chlamydia or gonorrhea can also cause ectopic pregnancy, chronic pelvic pain, and other serious health problems.
The report found that there were more than 1.1 million chlamydia cases reported in 2007, up from about one million in 2006, making it the largest number of cases ever reported to CDC for any condition. Gonorrhea, the second most commonly reported infectious disease, had more than 350,000 cases reported in 2007. However, it is estimated that more than half of all new infections with chlamydia and gonorrhea continue to go undiagnosed, underscoring the importance of increased screening. CDC recommends annual chlamydia screening for all sexually active women under 26 years old, and supports U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommendations to screen high-risk, sexually active women for gonorrhea. Click title for full report.
~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 01/13/2009
CDC's 2007 STD surveillance report also indicates ongoing racial disparities in the three most common reportable STDs, with African-Americans bearing the greatest burden. While representing 12 percent of the U.S. population, blacks had about 70 percent of reported gonorrhea cases and almost half of all chlamydia and syphilis cases (48 percent and 46 percent respectively) in 2007.
STDs take an especially heavy toll on black women 15 to 19 years of age, who account for the highest rates of both chlamydia (9,646.7 per 100,000 population) and gonorrhea (2,955.7 per 100,000 population) of any group. STDs in this age group are of particular concern because of the potential threat of these two diseases to a woman's fertility.
Studies have shown that one of the most important social determinants of sexual health is socioeconomic status. Higher rates of poverty among blacks than whites, and socioeconomic barriers to quality healthcare and STD prevention and treatment services have been associated with higher prevalence and incidence of STDs among racial and ethnic minorities.
"The racial disparities in rates of STDs are among the worst health disparities in the nation for any health condition," stressed Douglas. "We must intensify efforts to reach these communities with needed screening and treatment services. Testing and the knowledge of infection is a critical first step toward reducing the continued consequences of these diseases." Click title for full report.
~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 01/13/2009
This week the United States marks an historic transition as President Barack Obama takes office. It is a time of hope and reflection--in this spirit, our first Advocates' Network posting of 2009 is devoted to looking back on some of our collective accomplishments in 2008 and ahead to some of the potential developments on the horizon in 2009.
This past year has been a busy one for the HIV prevention research field and for AVAC. At the start of 2008, the AIDS vaccine research field was just a few months past the disappointment of the Step study results, and gearing up for months of debate about the question: where to from here? Also, in the early part of the year, there were disappointing flat results from an HIV prevention trial of herpes simplex type-2 treatment in HIV-negative people, and from the Carraguard microbicide study. But as the year moved ahead, the biomedical prevention research arena turned a corner from hand-wringing to hope and hard thinking about what to do next in AIDS vaccine science, pre-exposure prophylaxis research, ARV-based microbicides and male circumcision rollout. This momentum carried through to the end of 2008 and has all of us already busy in this first month of 2009.
AVAC is energized by the progress made in 2008. And we are proud to have been involved--with many of you--in many areas of this work, which has brought us to new places around the world and to new scientific issues. Highlights include:
* Supporting civil society and community voices around key issues in HIV prevention research. AVAC worked with multiple partners to convene prevention research stakeholder consultations in several African countries and in the US and plans to continue and further develop these in 2009.
* Starting an ongoing collaboration on gay men of color and HIV prevention research with the HIV Vaccine Trials Network's Legacy Project.
* Expanding our work, with UNAIDS, on Good Participatory Practice (GPP) Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials and establishing partnerships with community and research groups from nine countries to field-test and implement the GPP guidelines.
* Collaborating with the ATHENA Network to convene the first international civil society consultation on the potential impact of male circumcision on women, and partnering with Family Health International and WHO to launch a collaborative web clearinghouse on male circumcision, which will launch early in 2009.
* Bringing vaccine researchers and advocates together at the AIDS Vaccine 2008 Conference to address the convergence of HIV prevention technologies including vaccines, microbicides and PrEP research.
* Expanding our PrEP advocacy efforts, including publishing Anticipating the Results of PrEP Trials, beginning scenario planning to ensure the field is prepared for initial PrEP results that may be available as early as 2010, and convening issue-specific think tanks on key scientific issues on the PrEP agenda.
* Training journalists in Uganda to increase their level of research literacy in order to accurately report on the various prevention research trials ongoing in the country, and to foster relations between journalists and advocacy groups and among journalists and researchers.
We are excited to build on these experiences and partnerships in 2009.
We continue to monitor ongoing trials, several of which are expected to release results in 2009 (see full timeline here). These include:
* The HPTN 035 microbicide study, comparing BufferGel and Pro 2000/5 Gel expects results in the first quarter of the year.
* The trial of HSV-2 suppression in HIV serodiscordant couples expects results mid-year.
* The Thai prime-boost vaccine trial--the largest ever efficacy trial of an AIDS vaccine--which is testing a combination vaccine strategy in over 16,000 volunteers expects results in the third quarter.
* A safety trial on oral PrEP expects results by year's end in addition to the first interim data from PrEP efficacy trials.
AVAC will provide updates and forums for community discussion on these results as they emerge. We'll also be following several new trials including the VOICE study, which will test both oral and topical PrEP. This is the first study that will compare two different forms of ARV-based prevention, and we look forward to results and lessons learned from implementing this innovative design.
Also on the horizon is HVTN 505, the proposed exploratory trial of the NIH's Vaccine Research Center prime-boost strategy. This study hasn't yet gotten the green light from the US Food and Drug Administration; we'll keep you posted as the year unfolds. We'll also continue to track operations research and implementation of male circumcision.
As this list shows, trial-related milestones could fill much of our calendar this year. But, as important as these studies are, they are only part of the work that must be done. While we hope for positive results--and prepare for positive, negative, or indeterminate findings--we will also focus on work that's critical, whatever happens. This includes expanding collaborations with our GPP partners and launching new international initiatives with other advocacy groups and individuals to ensure that community groups and civil society stakeholders are actively engaged in prevention research advocacy.
We're aware of how valuable your time is--and, as we move into another year of providing updates, analysis, and background information through the Advocates' Network, we thank you for the time you take to participate in this forum.
The Ugandan nongovernmental organization PREFA, which aims to prevent HIV/AIDS among families, has begun a food security and nutrition program for HIV-positive people in the Bulisa, Kayunga and Masindi districts, PREFA Executive Director David Serukka said recently, New Vision reports. Serukka said increased efforts to address food security and nutrition can help meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target of achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010 ...(continued)
The hepatitis community has drafted the attached letter to key Senate members requesting inclusion of funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Viral Hepatitis in the Senate version of the economic stimulus bill ...(continued)
It is well known that heavy alcohol consumption can lead to severe liver disease including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, but the effects of alcohol on HCV and its treatment are less well studied. As described in the December 15, 2008 Journal of Infectious Diseases, E. McCartney and colleagues performed a laboratory study using cultured Huh-7 cells to examine the effects of alcohol metabolism on HCV replication and the antiviral activity of interferon ...(continued)
Women with chronic hepatitis C may transmit HCV to their babies during pregnancy or delivery. This is uncommon overall – occurring at a rate of about 5% – but is more likely when the mother is HIV positive. As reported in the December 1, 2008 Journal of Infectious Diseases, K. Dowd and colleagues studied 63 HIV/HCV coinfected pregnant women to assess whether lower levels of HCV-specific neutralizing antibodies are associated with an increased risk of mother-to-child HCV transmission ...(continued)
Some teenagers and young adults might overestimate how often they use condoms during sex, according to a study published recently in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Reuters Health reports. Eve Rose of Emory University and colleagues conducted the study among 715 black women and girls ages 15 to 21 who were enrolled in an HIV prevention program. Researchers asked the participants how many times in the past two weeks they had sex and how many times they used a condom. The participants also provided vaginal fluid samples to be screened for Y chromosome DNA, or evidence of sperm ...(continued)
In a 3-2 vote on Tuesday, the Commissioners Court in Dallas County, Texas, lifted a 13-year-old ban on condom distribution, authorizing the county health department to distribute no-cost condoms in an effort to curb the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, the Dallas Morning News reports (Levinthal, Dallas Morning News, 1/14). According to state officials, Dallas County had the highest HIV prevalence in Texas in 2007 and 2006, which caused concern among some officials about the effects of the condom ban in the county. The Commissioners Court in 1995 passed regulations banning the distribution of condoms and needle sterilization kits to at-risk people in local communities, saying these practices encouraged illegal and immoral behavior. Under the ban, Dallas County was the only public health agency in Texas to ban condoms in education and prevention programs (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 12/23/08) ...(continued)
If you have already started HCV treatment, congratulations. It takes courage to undertake treatment. The hardest part is making the decision to start, so you are already over one of the biggest hurdles. The majority of patients who start HCV treatment also finish it. This does not mean that the rest is easy. You may have some rough times ahead. In the over 10 years of working with HCV patients, combined with our personal experiences, we have come to believe this generality: if you are brave enough to begin treatment, then barring major problems, you will likely make it to the end ...(continued)
Medecins Sans Frontieres this month will assist three clinics in Swaziland's southern province of Shiselweni in providing services for people with HIV and tuberculosis coinfection, Inter Press Service reports. Aymeric Peguillan, MSF's head of mission in Swaziland, said the clinics will offer counseling, testing and treatment for both diseases because HIV and TB are "inseparable." He added that MSF intends to expand the program to include three more rural clinics within the next three months and hopes to work with all 19 clinics in the region by the end of 2009 ...(continued)
The AIDS Prevention and Control Project in the Indian state Tamil Nadu will establish 10 legal aid clinics for people living with HIV/AIDS in 10 districts of the state, S. Vijayakumar, project director and member secretary of Tamil Nadu State AIDS Control Society, said recently, The Hindu reports ...(continued)
HIV-positive men who have sex with men in China continue to experience HIV/AIDS-associated stigma and discrimination, the China Daily reports. According to the Daily, HIV-positive MSM live in the "shadow of guilt and shame that has long cast its pall over homosexuality and HIV/AIDS in China" ...(continued)
It's no coincidence that the communities most impacted by imprisonment also have the highest rates of HIV! The War on Drugs, mandatory minimums, racial profiling, and other criminal justice policies have resulted in the mass imprisonment of low-income people of color—a major driver of the domestic HIV/AIDS epidemic. Project UNSHACKLE is a groundbreaking effort, linking across movements to build a powerful community-based movement at the complex intersection of HIV and mass imprisonment in the United States. With Project UNSHACKLE, we are uniting people who are formerly imprisoned, HIV policy advocates, researchers, AIDS service providers, prison justice organizers, people with HIV and other community members, and organizers from allied movements ...(continued)
A report showing a change in the use of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation services throughout Cambodia has raised concerns about drug-related HIV transmission in the country's rural communities, the Phnom Penh Post reports. The report, released Monday by the National Authority for Combating Drugs, shows a decrease in the number of drug users accessing treatment and rehabilitation services at 10 state health centers, from 1,719 people in 2007 to 1,005 people in 2008. Additionally, Lour Ramin, NACD general secretary, said that there has been an increase in injection drug use in Cambodia despite a decrease in overall drug use in 2008. Officials "worry" about the impact that the trends will have on the country's HIV/AIDS prevalence, particularly in rural areas, he said, adding that in 2007, 35.1% of injection drug users in Phnom Penh were HIV-positive. Teruo Jinnai, the Cambodian representative for UNESCO, said the report highlights a need to engage high-risk populations, like IDUs, in HIV/AIDS education efforts. He said that IDUs have a "very high risk" of contracting the virus "because their level of understanding and consideration are still low" (Leakhana, Phnom Penh Post, 1/8) ...(continued)
Judge Skip Ebert smiled as Brian, a husky guy in a muscle shirt, walked to the front of his Cumberland County courtroom. "How's the interferon going?" Ebert asked. Brian, a recovering addict in the county's treatment court program, had just begun that therapy to combat the Hepatitis C that imperiled his health. "I'm just glad I'm finally getting this started," he told the judge. "That's my goal. If I'm not drinking and doing drugs that'll save my life. "Hepatitis affects your liver. If you drink, that can really kill you" ...(continued)
A FORMER teacher who has overcome the blood disease hepatitis C has made a fresh plea to people who think they may be at risk to get tested. Susan Wright discovered she had the potentially fatal illness during a medical check-up for an insurance company in 2003. Mrs Wright, aged 51, stopped drinking, went through a programme of treatment in 2006-07 and has now been declared free of the virus. Last year, she became the face of a publicity campaign in a bid to dispel the stigma surrounding the blood disease ...(continued)
For the first time, people living with HIV/AIDS in Afghanistan soon will receive antiretroviral therapy from the government, the Ministry of Health announced recently, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Forty of the 504 people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the country were selected to receive the drugs based on their medical status and need, among other criteria. It is suspected that there are an additional 2,000 to 2,500 undocumented HIV/AIDS cases nationwide ...(continued)
Anna Mshigwa, CEO of the Tanga Elderly Women Resource Center, on Wednesday urged the Tanzanian government to provide more funding and support for HIV/AIDS services targeted at older people, particularly those who provide care to children orphaned by the disease, the Guardian/IPP Media reports. According to Mshigwa, elderly people in Tanzania do not receive sufficient recognition for the role they play as caregivers to children affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition, campaigns promoting awareness about the disease typically target young people, and reports on HIV in Tanzania often lack sufficient data on the impact of the disease among older populations, Mshigwa said ...(continue)
The United Nations Population Fund is partnering with a local Pakistani nongovernmental organization in an effort to educate female commercial sex workers in the city of Karachi -- where thousands of such women are at high risk for contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections through unprotected sex -- on prevention methods and condom use, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Mizra Alim Baig, president of the Gender and Reproductive Health Forum, said the organization has been able to distribute hundreds of UNFPA-provided condoms daily "in the hope that somewhere a life might be saved." Baig also said that it "used to be a thankless job" but that he is "happy" female commercial sex workers have the "tools and knowledge to better protect themselves against HIV/AIDS, STIs and hepatitis." The forum also utilizes a group of outreach workers that includes former sex workers. "These women know what these [female sex workers] are going through and can relate to them in a better way," Baig said ...(continued)
Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor HR 179, the Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention Act of 2009:
In the bid to have the issue out front and center in the new Congress, Representative Jose Serrano re-introduced HR 179, Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention (CAHP) Act of 2009 in the 111th Congress yesterday. HR 179, introduced with 28 original co-sponsors, would eliminate all laws which prevent federal funding from being used by state and local jurisdictions for syringe exchange.
Now we need to find as many additional co-sponsors as possible for this legislation. Please send an email today urging your Representative to co-sponsor the CAHP Act of 2009, and encourage your friends, families and networks to do the same. You can either send the pre-written letter provided, amend it, or write your own. If your Representative already has co-sponsored, please write a note of appreciation.
H. R. 179- To permit the use of Federal funds for syringe exchange programs for purposes of reducing the transmission of bloodborne pathogens, including HIV and viral hepatitis.
Original cosponsors are: Mr. SERRANO (for himself), Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. CAPUANO, Ms. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. DELAHUNT, Mr. FARR, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HARE, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, Ms. MALONEY, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MORAN of Virginia, Mr. NADLER, Ms. NORTON, MR. PAUL, Mr. RANGEL, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. WATERS, Mr. WAXMAN, and Ms. WOOLSEY)
Some advocates in India are calling for increased efforts to end the social stigma and ostracism experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS in the country, LiveMint.com reports. Kapil Kaul, country head for the not-for-profit organization HelpAge India, said that the virus is continually linked with high-risk groups that do not have social standing in the country, adding that people "need to create sympathy and understanding" for those groups to end discrimination. He added that the country's "present approach is devoid of strategy," and that India needs a "huge campaign which must penetrate social norms" and "must have a five to 10 year perspective with definite milestones." Nirupama Rao, state youth coordinator for the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, said stigma can decrease as knowledge about the virus increases, adding the "more you talk about it, the more stigma will come down." Rao also said that creating supportive communities for people living with HIV/AIDS and having visible testing centers would help reduce stigma in India ...(continued)
High poverty rates and low education levels are contributing to increased vulnerability to HIV/AIDS in Yemen, especially among commercial sex workers, according to some experts, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Abdul-Hafed al-Ward, secretary-general of the Integrated Care Association for People Living with HIV, said that most cases of HIV/AIDS involve people with low incomes and that "[p]overty and HIV/AIDS go together and wherever the former exists so does the latter." Khaled Abdul-Majid, a program officer at the United Nations Development Program's Sanaa office, said that government institutions do not have the capacity to tackle HIV/AIDS and that a lack of knowledge about the virus leads to fear. He also said that high illiteracy rates contribute to HIV/AIDS-related stigma and that local radio stations "should allocate one hour [a day] to educate people about HIV/AIDS" ...(continued)
Cambodia has shifted the focus of its HIV/AIDS prevention efforts from young adults to children in response to 2008 statistics that show an increase in rates of antiretroviral use among children and mother-to-child transmission of the virus, the Phnom Penh Post reports. Mean Chhi Vun -- director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STDs -- said that the government has begun a program to provide "HIV testing for 6,745 pregnant women [this year] in 68 health centers across five of our operational districts." Thirty-five of the women tested positive for HIV and received follow-up care and medicine from the center, according to Vun. Teng Kunthy, general secretary of the National AIDS Authority of Cambodia, said that the government also is focusing on a national registration program to coordinate treatment for children living with HIV. The program "has been running smoothly so far and has encouraged more children to seek treatment," he said ...(continued)
Formerly low-risk groups such as married women and young children are contracting HIV/AIDS at higher rates in Indonesia's West Nusa Tenggara province during the past year, the Jakarta Post reports. According to the province's AIDS Eradication Commission, or KPAD, 25 married women and six young children contracted HIV last year. As of November 2008, 10 people had died from the disease, Rohmi Khoiriyati, KPAD secretary, said. KPAD as of November 2008 also recorded 25 new HIV cases, including three among people who had developed AIDS ...(continued)
Make Msuya -- a district health officer in Korogwe, Tanzania -- recently called on elderly people to be tested for HIV/AIDS in order to help curb the spread of the disease in the country, Guardian/IPP Media reports. Msuya made the announcement during a training course for 50 elderly district residents, which was organized by Tanga Elderly Women Resource Center -- an organization that aims to raise awareness of the impact of HIV/AIDS on older people. In addition, Msuya also called on elderly populations to avoid harmful practices that increase the risk of spreading HIV, including female genital mutilation and widow inheritance. He also called on older people to continue to serve as care givers to children whose parents have died from AIDS-related causes. "Your role as care givers is exemplary, and the community was banking on you to win the war against HIV/AIDS," Msuya said. He also urged health care officials in the district to provide gloves and condoms in their villages in order to combat the spread of the disease (Kigwangallah, Guardian/IPP Media, 1/2).
A new campaign aims to provide women with messages about HIV awareness, safer sex and condom use through a series of 12 soap opera vignettes that can be viewed on a cell phone, the AP/Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Rachel Jones, an educator at Rutgers University's College of Nursing, developed the campaign using professional actors and scripts based on focus groups with women in Newark and Jersey City, N.J. ...(continued)
Youth in Nigeria are at an increased risk of HIV/AIDS because of a lack of information and counseling services, Aderonke Sodeinde, an HIV prevention adviser at the United Nations Population Fund, said recently at a UNPF workshop aimed at educating journalists on the importance of providing HIV education and awareness to young people, the Daily Trust reports ...(continued)
More than 1,000 Chicago teenagers were tested for HIV on Saturday as part of the second annual Teen Test Day at the South Shore Cultural Center, the Chicago Tribune reports. Many of the teenagers said they are not sexually active but believed it was a good idea to receive the no-cost tests, the Tribune reports. Regina Hampton, a case manager for the Circle Family HealthCare Network who administered the tests, said, "It's good to get [teens] in the habit [of being tested for HIV] even if they haven't been sexually active." Organizers of the event said that in recent years, about half of new HIV infections have been reported among adults younger than age 25, with the highest infection rate among black teenagers. Teen Test Day is sponsored by the Chicago-based youth group Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization (Owen, Chicago Tribune, 1/4).
The Hawaii AIDS Clinical Research Program has raised more than $20 million to support research and care for HIV-positive people since 2007 when the state Legislature allocated $1.2 million to the program after it lost a $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases because some clinical trial units were closed, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reports ...(continued)
PBS' The Charlie Rose Show last week featured a discussion with David Ho -- director of Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center -- and Anthony Fauci -- director of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases -- about new approaches to curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS and the search for a vaccine. Fauci said that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still a "great challenge" but that "the greatest advances have been made in the development of therapies which, if given appropriately to people, can really transform the lives of HIV-[positive] individuals." However, he added, "The sobering news is ... for every person who gets on therapy, you have a few more who get infected." Fauci said that prevention, especially with a vaccine, is "one of the major challenges," adding, "We've come a long way, but there is much, much more to be done" ...(continued)
People in their 30s and 40s living in the United Kingdom are half as likely as teenagers to use a condom when having sex with a new partner, according to a study published recently in the International Journal of Epidemiology, London's Daily Telegraph reports. The study found that nearly 70% of those between ages 16 and 19 used a condom with a new partner, compared with 38% of men and 29% of women between ages 35 and 44 (Gammell, Daily Telegraph, 11/12). The new information follows an announcement from the United Kingdom's Health Protection Agency that rates of sexually transmitted infections such as HIV are on the rise in the country, with a 6% increase in the total number of new STIs diagnosed in 2007 compared with 2006 (BBC News, 11/12) ...(continued)
People living with HIV/AIDS in Burundi often face the additional challenge of fighting the disease without proper nutrition because of a widespread food shortage in the country, IRIN/PlusNews reports ...(continued)
New York, NY – November 12, 2008 – A star-studded public information campaign that promoted HIV testing in the United States has won the 2008 National Public Service Announcements (PSA) Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Created by the Kaiser Family Foundation, HBO, the National Basketball Association and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, the “Get Tested” PSA leveraged media savvy and star-power to break down barriers to HIV testing and to inspire and encourage viewers to get tested.
HIV/AIDS remains a critical challenge in the United States and abroad. In August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the HIV epidemic in the United States is—and has been—worse than previously thought. According to CDC, as many as 55,000 Americans are newly infected with HIV every year, and 1 in 4 Americans living with HIV/AIDS today doesn’t know it. African-Americans are especially impacted, representing nearly half of all new infections, while representing just 12% of the U.S. population.
Globally, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) estimates that 8 in 10 people living with HIV in low or middle income countries do not know they are infected with the virus. Both the CDC and UNAIDS have encouraged more routine HIV testing.
The PSA featured Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx and stars from the NBA including Lamar Odom and Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers; Samuel Dalembert of the Philadelphia 76ers; Kyle Korver of the Utah Jazz; Richard Jefferson of the Milwaukee Bucks and Marcus Williams of the Golden State Warriors. Hip-Hop legend Doug E. Fresh produced the original music for the PSAs.
“We’re so proud to join the Coalition, Kaiser Family Foundation, and NBA Cares to produce this extraordinary PSA,” said HBO Co-President Richard Plepler. “That it was awarded an Emmy is a particular thrill. The credit goes to Chris Spencer, Elaine Brown and their team whose talent made it all possible."
“Knowing your HIV status is an essential part of prevention and treatment,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director of Entertainment Media Partnerships at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “Testing provides an opportunity to receive counseling about risks, and early knowledge of HIV status helps link people to care.”
“This award is a reflection of our teams' and players' commitment to improving communities here and abroad. The NBA is honored to share this recognition with organizations such as the GBC, Kaiser Family Foundation and HBO, which are determined to bring the all-important issue of HIV testing to the forefront," said NBA Senior Vice President, Community and Player Programs Kathy Behrens.
“HIV testing is fundamental to defeating HIV/AIDS,” said John Tedstrom, Executive Director of the Global Business Coalition, which played an instrumental role in organizing the PSA campaign. “The award demonstrates the value of cross-sector partnerships, an area in which our Coalition focuses heavily. Together, we can effectively convey awareness about the dangers of HIV and drive real behavior change on an unprecedented scale.”
The campaign grew out of an initial commitment made by HBO and Kaiser Family Foundation at the Clinton Global Initiative in 2006. The PSAs aimed to raise awareness about the importance of HIV testing and directed U.S. viewers to www.testing411.org, a comprehensive online resource developed especially for the campaign that included basic information about HIV and testing options. The site also included easy access to information about local HIV testing centers by zip code provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The PSAs aired over 480 times on U.S. cable television networks – including MTV and BET – and drove thousands of referrals to the CDC’s HIV testing center locator. Internationally, the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) distributed the PSAs to more than 100 broadcast members in more than 60 countries across Africa and the Caribbean. In those regions, the spots referred viewers to local HIV resources.
Earlier this year Testing411 also was awarded outstanding PSA from Cable Positive, the cable and telecommunications industry's HIV/AIDS action organization.
Hispanics in Los Angeles County are waiting about twice as long to seek HIV testing and treatment as whites, leading to increased HIV prevalence among Hispanics, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune reports. According to the Tribune, 60% of HIV cases among Hispanics in the county are detected "very late," compared with 33% among whites ...(continued)
The New York Times on Sunday examined the impact of last month's announcement that as many as 50 students from Normandy High School in Missouri might have been exposed to HIV. Officials at the St. Louis' high school sent a letter to the parents and guardians of its students on Oct. 13, which said while the St. Louis County Department of Health was investigating an HIV case, it had reason to believe that some students at the school might have been exposed to HIV. Stanton Lawrence, superintendent of the Normandy School District, said that the wide scale of the possible HIV exposure led to the decision to inform the entire population of the school -- approximately 1,300 students in grades nine through 12 -- even though such investigations are typically executed "quietly and confidentially" by health department investigators, according to the Times. No-cost, confidential HIV testing was offered to all students, and 97% participated. Results are expected sometime this week ...(continued)
The United Nations has called on India to decriminalize homosexuality, saying the move would help in the fight against HIV/AIDS by allowing intervention programs such as ones that have been successful in other countries, AFP/Google.com. The Delhi High Court currently is considering a suit brought by advocates to decriminalize homosexuality, which was deemed illegal by a British colonial-era law and is punishable by a fine and a 10-year prison sentence ...(continued)
Beginning next year, Muslim couples in the Malaysian state of Sabah planning to get married will be required to attend a pre-marriage course and undergo HIV screening, Sabah State Islamic Religious Affairs Department Director Amri Suratman said recently, the Bernama Daily Malaysian News reports. According to Amri, the Sabah State Islamic Religious Council will consider the new regulations, which are likely to be announced as early as January 2009 ...(continued)
Whichever candidate wins the U.S. presidential election should develop a national HIV/AIDS strategy, POZ magazine editor-in-chief Regan Hofmann said recently, VOA News reports. According to POZ, more than one million people in the U.S. are HIV-positive, and 14,000 people died from AIDS-related causes in 2006. In addition, about 25% of people in the U.S. who are living with HIV are unaware of their status, VOA News reports. According to Hofmann, the next president should "acknowledge" that there is an HIV/AIDS epidemic in the U.S. and put "forward a plan immediately to deal with it. The funding is not commensurate with the need in the United States." She added that several state and federal HIV/AIDS programs have seen budget cuts in recent years ...(continued)
Papua New Guinea's first national conference for people living with HIV was opened Sunday in the capital of Port Moresby by Jamie Maxtone-Graham, chair of the Special Parliamentary Committee on HIV/AIDS, the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier reports. The three-day event -- which is funded by the Australian government through Sanap Wantaim, Australia's HIV/AIDS program with Papua New Guinea -- is expected to draw about 150 people living with HIV. According to the Post-Courier, about 60% of HIV-positive people in the country have not publically disclosed their HIV status. Participants include 47 representatives from Papua New Guinea's 20 provinces, as well as international representatives from the National Association of People with AIDS in Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands, the Solomon Islands and the Pacific Islands Association Federation in the Cook Islands ...(continued)
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation has completed the pilot phase of a home-based program in Uganda that teaches HIV-positive pregnant women how to administer the antiretroviral nevirapine to their infants immediately after birth to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the virus, New Vision reports. According to New Vision, the pediatric form of nevirapine can reduce an infant's risk of HIV by 50% when given after birth ...(continued)
The Boston Globe on Monday profiled John Chittick, who in 1997 founded TeenAIDS-PeerCorps, a not-for-profit group that teaches teens worldwide about HIV/AIDS. Chittick reaches out to teens about the disease through his "World Walks" -- yearly international trips to countries with high HIV/AIDS burdens. In two weeks, Chittick will travel to Sudan, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola. He estimates that he has spoken with 300,000 teens in more than 80 countries since his first trip ten years ago and said he hopes to add 10,000 teens to that list during his next trip ...(continued)
Swaziland is leading African countries in promoting male circumcision to curb the spread of HIV with the help of Israeli surgeons, the AP/San Jose Mercury News reports. The country began to promote male circumcision in response to studies showing that the procedure could reduce a man's risk of contracting HIV by up to 60%, according to the AP/Mercury News. According to United Nations modeling studies, male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa could prevent 5.7 million new HIV cases and 3 million HIV/AIDS-related deaths over 20 years ...(continued)
Although the overall number of HIV/AIDS cases in Thailand is declining, new cases among men who have sex with men have been increasing dramatically during the past few years, the Nation reports ...(continued)
Breakthroughs in contraceptive technology, expanded government funding and evolving public health policies over the past 50 years have dramatically changed women’s ability to control their fertility and to better care for their reproductive health.This progress is reflected in part by the fact that the overwhelming majority of women at risk of unintended pregnancy in the United States—some nine in 10—are practicing contraception any given year ...(continued)
~Guttmacher Institute - Fall 2008, Volume 11, Number 4
In line with President Bush’s personal commitment, Congress recently voted to reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). In addition to calling for a major increase in U.S. spending on international AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria activities, the new legislation supports linkages—either directly or by referral—with a long list of ancillary services that often affect AIDS-impacted individualsand families, including nutrition, access to safewater and sanitation, substance abuse and treatment services, and legal services. It also expands programs aimed at addressing the factors that drive the pandemic for women, including initiatives to reduce gender-based violence and empower women economically ...(continued)
~Guttmacher Institute - Fall 2008, Volume 11, Number 4
Kenya's second national bar hostesses' conference recently was held in the capital of Nairobi, during which participants examined HIV/AIDS and sexual violence prevention strategies, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The meeting was organized by the Bar Hostesses Empowerment and Support Programmes, which also released a study that said 90% of bar hostesses in Nairobi are sexually active and have multiple partners. The organization estimates that HIV prevalence in this population is higher than the national average of about 7.8%, although there are no firm statistics. Peninah Mwangi, head of BHESP, said bar hostesses are "relegated to subservient status" and "find it difficult to negotiate for safe sex or good terms of employment." Mwangi also said that violence against hostesses is "widespread and accepted," adding that they "face sexual harassment at work and are often raped, as they leave work in the middle of the night with no protection" ...(continued)
The Westside Gazette on Wednesday examined the results of a recent National Foundation for Infectious Diseases survey looking at parents' awareness of risks for meningococcal disease. According to the Gazette, the survey -- of parents with children ages 11 to 21 -- found that while nearly all black parents had heard of meningococcal disease, about 70% were unaware of their child's risk for contracting the disease ...(continued)
The Raleigh News & Observer and the New Orleans Times-Picayune on Wednesday published articles about the Southern AIDS Living Quilt, which was launched last week by the Southern AIDS Coalition and Test For Life as an effort to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic among women in the Southern U.S., particularly minorities. The Southern AIDS Living Quilt initiative will feature videos about women affected by the disease and highlight the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on women. The project also will provide information about testing and prevention measures (Kaiser Health Disparities Report, 10/20). Summaries of the articles appear by clicking title.
HIV/AIDS programs in Burundi are unable to expand their services because of a shortage of government funding, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The National AIDS Control Council of Burundi said that in 2008, the government experienced an $11 million shortfall in the $28 million budget needed to address HIV/AIDS in the country. In addition, there was an $83 million shortage in funding needed to fulfill the national AIDS strategic plan from 2007 to 2011 ...(continued)
Commercial sex workers in Bali in response to strict monitoring by city officials have begun working in remote villages, increasing the risk of HIV transmission in the region, according to a report released Friday by the Bali Regional AIDS Commission, or KPA, the Jakarta Post reports ...(continued)
Regardless of the results when the dust settles late on Election Day 2008, we know for certain: the AIDS pandemic will still be a national and global crisis. Will our new Administration and Congress call for bold measures to address a deepening domestic AIDS epidemic? Will Washington generate a National AIDS Strategy based on the evidence of what works, or will business-as-usual inside the Beltway hinder our efforts? What are the emerging politics around full funding for honest HIV prevention and groundbreaking research? ...(continued)
Citing concerns that the ABC prevention method -- which stands for Abstinence, Be faithful and use Condoms -- does not provide women with sufficient protection against HIV/AIDS because of issues such as rape, early marriage and low condom use, advocates for women's reproductive health recently called for new approaches to reducing the disease among women, Ghana's Public Agenda reports. According to the Public Agenda, the ABC method is not considered a pragmatic option for millions of women and girls in Africa who often are taught to obey men ...(continued)
Chicago black women's mortality rate from breast cancer was 116% higher than that of white women in 2005, according to a new report from the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The task force last year reported that the mortality gap was 68% ...(continued)
An Internet-based "living quilt" is scheduled to be launched on Wednesday in New Orleans to increase awareness of the effect of HIV/AIDS on women in the South, particularly minorities, the AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. The Southern AIDS Living Quilt initiative will feature videos about women affected by the disease and highlight the disproportionate effect of HIV/AIDS on women. The project also will provide information about testing and prevention measures (AP/New Orleans Times-Picayune, 10/17) ...(continued)
Women must be empowered and respected, particularly by men, in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Nafis Sadik, United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region, said Friday at a poverty alleviation conference in Beijing, Reuters reports. According to Sadik, lack of respect for women is a primary reason for the spread of the virus ...(continued)
Allan Rosenfield, an advocate for women's health and HIV/AIDS issues worldwide for more than 40 years, died Sunday at age 75 of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the New York Times reports. Rosenfield served as dean of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, and throughout his career worked on issues related to maternal AIDS-related deaths, women's reproductive health and human rights, and family planning. According to the Times, Rosenfield's "most notable effort" likely was his involvement in a program to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, which to date has delivered health care to more than 500,000 women and infants ...(continued)
Students at Savannah State University are being trained as peer educators in an effort to increase awareness about the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on young blacks in the U.S., the Savannah Morning News reports. Since 2005, a grant from the Center for Substance Abuse Prevention has allowed the university's Department of Criminal Justice and Social and Behavioral Sciences to train students to be peer educators in a campus HIV/AIDS prevention program. Peer educators present statistics and films and invite guest speakers who are living with HIV/AIDS to inform students of the effect that the disease is having in the black community. According to the Georgia Department of Human Resources, blacks make up 75% of new HIV/AIDS cases in the state but only 30% of the population. In addition, AIDS-related illnesses are the fourth-leading cause of death among blacks ages 20 to 44 in the state ...(continued)
PITTSBURG — Back on 1969, Larry Holliday, Pittsburg, got a tattoo. But that’s not all he got. “That’s probably when I contracted hepatitis C, in a tattoo parlor in back of a bar in Fort Worth, Texas, and it’s taken 30 years to catch up with me,” Holliday said. “I paid $35 to have my life taken away from me" ...(continued)
AUBURN, CALIF –Placer County Health and Human Services will begin hosting a hepatitis C support group for anyone who wants to know more about the disease and its treatment. The confidential group is offered at no cost, is open to the public and will meet from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. in the Placer County Community Health Large Conference Room, 11484 B Ave., in Auburn ...(continued)
Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barre-Sinoussi, two French scientists who jointly were awarded half of the Nobel Prize for medicine earlier this week, spoke with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Wednesday about the effect that the world financial crisis could have on global funding for HIV/AIDS, the AP/Hartford Courant reports. Both scientists voiced their concerns that international HIV/AIDS funding and research could decrease because of the recent global financial crisis. Montagnier also questioned whether assistance from the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for medicines in places such as Africa could continue in light of the financial situation, according to the AP/Courant (AP/Hartford Courant, 10/8) ...(continued)
Despite research showing circumcision can reduce a man's risk of HIV during heterosexual intercourse, a study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the procedure offers little protection against the virus for men who have sex with men, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. According to the study, there was minimal difference in HIV infections between those MSM who were circumcised and those who were not (AFP/Yahoo! News, 10/7) ...(continued)
At a recent workshop held by Women, Media and Change, Afua Ansre, national coordinator of the United Nations Development Fund for Women in Ghana, said that obstacles to HIV/AIDS prevention -- including a lack of access to information, education and health care -- are compounded by a deficit of sex-specific data on monitoring systems, Ghana's Public Agenda reports. Ansre also said that women should be provided with education about the disease, particularly for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission. She added that governments, nongovernmental organizations and individuals must work together "to implement structured programs to prevent the spread" of HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
Former Mayor Mike Peters — restaurateur, Hartford booster and former firefighter — underwent a nearly eight-hour liver transplant early Tuesday and is recovering at Hartford Hospital. As of Tuesday afternoon, Peters, 59, was listed in critical, but stable condition and his doctors said they were pleased with the initial results. They say Peters could remain in the hospital another week or more ...(continued)
Despite a recent economic and military resurgence in Russia, the country is "facing a public health crisis that verges on the catastrophic," including high rates of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, Murray Feshbach, a senior scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a research professor emeritus at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, writes in a Washington Post opinion piece ...(continued)
Musician Annie Lennox on Monday in Dublin, Ireland, at a two-day forum on HIV/AIDS and children worldwide said that governments should meet aid pledges to support developing countries over the long-term, the Irish Times reports. Lennox said that governments are "notoriously bad at keeping their promises" but that "we must not walk away from the issues. Governments come and go, but poverty remains." She also said that the Irish government is doing a "fantastic" job addressing such issues and that citizens should do more to help people in need and development workers. "Anybody who has a laptop has a tool to connect," Lennox said, adding, "It's so powerful and it's international. We can really use the facilities that we have. We use them for social networking and really we can use them for advocacy and change" (O'Brien, Irish Times, 10/7). She also said that she would like to see "really long lasting social and political change" (Irish Examiner, 10/7) ...(continued)
Recent statistics from Fiji's Health Ministry on Sexually Transmitted Infections are a cause for concern, and the high rate of STIs among people ages 20 to 29 put them at an increased risk for contracting HIV/AIDS, Fiji's Director of Public Health Josaia Samuela said recently, the Fiji Times reports. Statistics gathered over the past eight years by the ministry show that gonorrhea and syphilis are the most frequently reported STIs in the country, which Samuela said "highlights the underlying concern of unsafe sexual behavior among young people" and the "same high-risk behavior for the transmission of HIV." He also said that "sex is serious business" and that "[a]nyone, especially young people, who participates does so at their risk, in view of the sad consequences of infection from so many STIs including HIV, pelvic inflammatory disease and infertility" ...(continued)
In Mexico,where abortion remains largely illegal and clandestine, reliable data on induced abortion and relatedmorbidity
are critical for informing policies and programs.The only available national estimate of abortion is for 1990,and demographic and socioeconomic changes since then have likely affected abortion incidence ...(continued)
Citing waning efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in Uganda, President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday called for increased prevention strategies, particularly concerning mother-to-child transmission, Uganda's New Vision reports. Museveni was speaking at the opening of the $2.5 million Baylor Children's Centre of Excellence at Mulago Hospital -- which will provide care for children living with HIV/AIDS and was funded by Baylor College of Medicine, CDC and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. Museveni said that all pregnant women should undergo HIV testing, and, if they test positive for the virus, receive treatment to prevent transmission to their infants (Baguma, New Vision, 10/3). He added that with improved MTCT prevention, Uganda can reduce the number of children born with HIV, which currently is recorded at 25,000 each year ...(continued)
A group of women in Namibia recently called for efforts to improve their sexual rights in an effort to curb the spread of HIV in the country, the New Era reports. "Women should know about their sexual rights; it is very important, especially for women in rural areas where men, more often than not, abuse women," advocate Vicky Schimming said at a recent workshop on sexual rights, culture and HIV/AIDS. The workshop is part of a nationwide campaign, organized by the group Sister Namibia, that was launched in 2000 to examine the sexual and cultural practices that violate women's rights and contribute to the spread of HIV. According to Sister Namibia Director Liz Frank, the campaign also aims to collect case studies for a handbook on sexuality in Namibia and bolster local capacity to hold workshops on the connections between HIV/AIDS, poverty, some cultural practices and sexual violence ...(continued)
The number of HIV/AIDS cases among men who have sex with men has increased eightfold during the past few years in areas of China, according to a study published recently in the journal Nature, Reuters reports. The study also found that the proportion of women in their reproductive years who are HIV-positive has doubled during the past 10 years. According to researchers, this indicates that HIV/AIDS is moving from high-risk groups to the general population ...(continued)
Nepal's HIV/AIDS policies and programs have failed to address the problems of women living with HIV/AIDS in the country, HIV-positive women with Shakti Milan Samaj -- a social organization working on behalf of women living with HIV/AIDS -- said during a press conference on Wednesday, the Rising Nepal reports. The women also called on the government to guarantee access to no-cost treatment, care, resettlement, social security and jobs, as well as a special program to help them maintain a living. They added the government "should make arrangements for free education to our children and announce legal action against all violence against us regarding it as a crime against the state" ...(continued)
Ukraine's Parliament recently approved a bill that would establish a national program to increase HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts in the country, Ukrainian News reports. The bill -- titled "On Approving a National Program for Ensuring Prevention of HIV Infections, Treatment, Care and Support of HIV Carriers and AIDS Patients during the 2009-2013 Period" -- aims to curb the impact that the disease is having on the country's population by introducing a government policy that would increase both HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment ...(continued)
The Kenyan government recently signed an agreement for a grant worth 1.1 billion shillings, or about $15 million, for the fight against HIV/AIDS, Kenya's Nation reports. According to the Nation, the funding will be shared among member countries of the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda and Kenya ...(continued)
Your activism to lift the federal ban on syringe exchange funding has made a difference, and for the first time in 20 years, we have legislation in Congress, HR 6680, The Community AIDS and Hepatitis Prevention (CAHP) Act of 2008, introduced by Representative Jose Serrano on July 30, with 25 original co-sponsors, that would eliminate all laws which prevent federal funding from being used by state and local jurisdictions for syringe exchange ...(continued)
A study published in September in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports that people infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) are at increased risk of developing pancreatic cancer, one of the more deadlier cancers. Researchers at the Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston compared 476 people with pancreatic cancer with 879 healthy subjects. All were tested to see if they had ever been infected with HBV or the hepatitis C virus (HCV). Pancreatic cancer patients were twice as likely as the healthy subjects to
have had hepatitis B. Among those with cancer, 7.6% had had hepatitis B, compared to 3.2% ...(continued)
The Florida Supreme Court sided with a former Orlando firefighter in a long-running medical claim against the city, but the man didn't live long enough to see the victory. In 2001, Bob Flamily drew national attention with his claim that Orlando officials had failed to share years of his own medical test results showing symptoms of hepatitis C. The case prompted other Orlando firefighters to check their own files at a city-run employee clinic, find undiscovered ailments and join a lawsuit against the city. The suit ultimately failed, but the city changed the way it provides medical care for its firefighters ...(continued)
Following his recent efforts to legalize homosexuality in India, Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss said the country should recognize the increasing acceptance of homosexuality worldwide because such tolerance would ensure "an effective fight against AIDS," IANS/Thaindian News reports (IANS/Thaindian News, 9/29) ...(continued)
A power sharing deal signed on Sept. 15 by Zimbabwe's three political parties has made some HIV/AIDS advocates optimistic for increased access to medications and services at state hospitals, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Benjamin Mazhindu, chair of the Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS, said, "In previous years, there has been serious under-funding of key ministries, such as health and social welfare, with ministries such as defense being given priority." He added that budget decisions in an "all-inclusive government" would not be made by just one party that holds a majority. In addition, the network's "hope ... rests on the fact that budget proposals will [now] be heavily debated in parliament," Mazhindu said ...(continued)
Many developing countries are facing a shortage of medical workers -- leaving health care gaps in nations with high HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis burdens -- Reuters reports. Although Africa has 25% of the world's disease burden, it has only 3% of the world's health care workers, Reuters reports, adding that the continent also is most affected by medical brain drain worldwide. In addition, the continent's high HIV/AIDS prevalence has led to an even greater shortage of medical workers who have died from the disease. HIV/AIDS patients in Africa often use clinics staffed by a single nurse and a few untrained assistants, with a physician visiting once every few weeks, Reuters reports. "A nurse taking care of 400 patients is paid $3 a day in Malawi," a situation that leads many medical workers in the country to migrate abroad or work for private companies, Moses Massaquoi, a physician with Medecins Sans Frontieres in Malawi, said. According to Reuters, some international disease experts earlier this year called the recruiting of African health care workers by Western nations an international crime ...(continued)
GALLUP — Martin Morales’ wife and children are praying for a miracle. Morales, 42, a local contractor who has lived in Gallup for the last 28 years, has liver disease from hepatitis C SanvilleA 9/19/08 cq and is in dire need of a liver transplant. Last week he was hospitalized at Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital in Gallup. Now he’s in Albuquerque’s Presbyterian Hospital ...(continued)
A bad mood consumed Christopher Kennedy Lawford even before the telephone rang. The caller wanted to write a book about what it's like to be a Kennedy now. Lawford immediately wondered why the world needed another book about the Kennedys. And the call didn't improve his mood. He said he was being treated for hepatitis C, and anger and fear fueled his emotions ...(continued)
The liver plays a pivotal role in fuel and energy metabolism. Many studies have shown that patients with liver cirrhosis have nutrient and energy metabolism imbalances, which lead to malnutrition and can seriously affect their prognosis. However, the characteristics of the fuel and energy metabolism in patients with chronic severe hepatitis are not clear ...(continued)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new data today confirming what AIDS watchdogs have been saying for years: Black gay and bisexual men and Black women are being devastated by HIV/AIDS. That ugly reality is now indisputable. But what’s just as clear is that resources currently dedicated to changing that reality are woefully inadequate and not targeted at the heart of the problem.
A mobilization to end AIDS in Black communities has exploded in recent years. People from every corner of our community are getting involved—gay and straight, male and female, churches and civil rights groups, business people and celebrities, college students and community organizers. It is now crucial that policymakers at both the federal and local level finally join the fight ...(continued)
This update brings you the new edition of Px Wire, AVAC's quarterly update on HIV prevention research--which we've designed as a quick and comprehensive source of information on the full range of HIV prevention research worldwide.
Highlights in this issue of Px Wire include a discussion of the no-go decision on the proposed PAVE 100 vaccine trial (though the candidate may yet be tested); updates on women's input into male circumcision for HIV prevention; and AVAC's take on indelible moments and themes from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City in August.
As always, this issue includes a center foldout poster with an updated comprehensive timeline of efficacy trials of new biomedical HIV prevention trials worldwide and a world map showing where various strategies are being tested.
Check out the "Coming Up" and "Recently Released" section for a glimpse of what the AIDS Vaccine 2008 Conference in Cape Town (13-16 October) will bring and for a guide to new publications on PrEP.
Click here to download the current issue of Px Wire. Additional resources including the Px Wire archive, information about subscribing, reprint requests and bulk orders can be found at www.pxwire.org. As always, comments are most welcome.
The Washington Post on Monday profiled actress and HIV/AIDS advocate Sheryl Lee Ralph, whose one-woman show "Sometimes I Cry" aims to increase awareness about the disease. Ralph has performed the show nationwide as well as internationally, and she staged it on Saturday in Washington, D.C., at the Columbia Heights Educational Campus. During the show, Ralph stands in front of a screen that displays photographs and epidemiological statistics, and she "delves into her subject by way of a bittersweet memory of the 1980s," when HIV/AIDS was "gathering force," according to the Post. Ralph also has collected personal stories from women affected by the disease, and she uses this material during her performances, "airing the tales that are the best fit for the audience in front of her," the Post reports (Wren, Washington Post, 9/29).
The government of Botswana, along with Population Services International, has distributed almost 60 million condoms in the country during the past two years in an attempt to scale up the fight against HIV/AIDS, Mmegi reports ...(continued)
An Indian Web site launched last year by government employee Anil Kumar Valiv aims to help HIV-positive people find partners who also are HIV-positive and are interested in marriage, Reuters reports ...(continued)
New research by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and the Sherbourne Health Centre sheds light on the mental health of bisexual people in Ontario by looking at the context of mental health issues in this group. The Bisexuality, Mental Health and Emotional Well-Being Research Project also found that the existing mental health services do not adequately meet the needs of bisexual people.
The Ontario-wide project evaluated the experiences of bisexual people based on three main determinants of health: social factors, including biphobia and stigma; interpersonal relationships, including those with the LGBT community, the workplace and partners; and internal factors, including self-acceptance and identity struggles. The results demonstrated that social biphobia and stereotypes about bisexuals have far reaching negative effects on the mental health and well-being of bisexual people.
London's Guardian on Wednesday published several articles on poverty, including its effect on HIV/AIDS and malaria. Summaries appear by clicking title:
An advisory board made up of Luo leaders from the Nyanza region of Kenya on Monday gave their support for a voluntary medical male circumcision program, a decision that Kenyan officials say is a significant step in the region's fight against HIV/AIDS, Kenya's Daily Nation reports ...(continued)
The United Nations World Food Programme is withdrawing food aid to some HIV-positive people in Uganda as part of broader cutbacks in the country's aid program that have come after a shortfall in funding, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The decrease in food aid is estimated to affect 1.5 million people, in addition to the children in the school feeding program, which also will be cutback ...(continued)
"We're at a Chronic Stage": Although the HIV/AIDS pandemic appears to be leveling off, continued unsafe sexual practices and a lack of access to drugs means that "so much remains to do" to fight the disease, the Guardian reports. According to the Guardian, advocacy campaigns and public outrage have led to the provision of large amounts of money and commitment to fight the pandemic. Some experts argue that the scale-up in HIV/AIDS programs has been "at the expense of very weak health systems in Africa and Asia whose few doctors, nurses and other health workers have been diverted from dealing with other diseases." Although many HIV/AIDS experts "agree in principle" that health systems need to be strengthened, UNAIDS Director of Evidence, Monitoring and Policy Paul de Lay said that vertical programs have shown to be effective and contribute to health-system strengthening. Considering the financial stress of providing millions of HIV-positive people with antiretroviral drugs and several scientific setbacks in developing a vaccine, the Guardian reports that many HIV/AIDS experts think that the best way to fight the disease is through education (Boseley, Guardian, 9/24) ...(continued)
A nipple shield that disinfects milk as it leaves the breast has shown to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, BBC News reports. Devised by Stephen Gerrard, a University of Cambridge engineer, the shield employs a detergent used by biochemists to denature proteins for analysis, and a layer of cotton-wool soaked in the chemical is added to a conventional shield, which deactivates the virus. According to the BBC News, the layer deactivates the virus without having to go through heat treatment -- the normal treatment to deactivate HIV ...(continued)
Thailand's The Nation on Monday profiled a program in Thailand that uses a "water exchange" to provide students with sex education, including information about HIV/AIDS. According to The Nation, talking about sex often is taboo in the country ...(continued)
Congratulations. You made it through hepatitis C (HCV) treatment. Give yourself a pat on the back. It does not matter if you had an easy or difficult course of treatment, the fact that you finished is enough to feel proud. Now that you are done, you may have questions about what happens next. The post-treatment period is largely a recovery time. Patients are tired and anxious to return to a normal life. The post-treatment period is also a time of waiting for results. Patients want to know if they are free of HCV. They want to know if their efforts paid off ...(continued)
The ideal outcome for hepatitis C (HCV) treatment is to have a sustained viral response (SVR). This means that HCV is non-detectable in the blood for at least six months after the last treatment dose. Approximately one-half of those who complete treatment will have this best possible outcome – a life free of hepatitis C (HCV). If you are reading this, presumably you were told that your HCV viral load was non-detectable. Congratulations. This is wonderful news ...(continued)
Many people with hepatitis C feel isolated and find it difficult to cope with living with a chronic illness such as HCV. Family and friends can be a great source of comfort and support, but support from people who have faced some of the same fears and challenges can be crucial in helping people understand, manage and live successfully with hepatitis C ...(continued)
Stanford University's Asian Liver Center and the Asian American for Community Involvement organization are providing Hepatitis B screenings and low-cost vaccinations on several upcoming Saturdays. The screenings and vaccinations, which are available to anyone regardless of their health insurance status, will be held at the Asian American for Community Involvement center Saturday, as well as on Oct. 4, Oct. 18, Nov. 1, Nov. 15 and Dec. 6. Dates for 2009 will also be announced soon ...(continued)
It is reasonably safe to argue that awareness of HIV has increased to a point where much of the world recognises it as a life-threatening problem. Few people by now can have missed, at some level, the stories, images, public health campaigns or evidence attached to HIV/AIDS, the world’s highest profile blood-borne killer virus ...(continued)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - African-American patients are approximately twice as likely as their Caucasian counterparts to die following major liver surgery, or hepatectomy, U.S. researchers report. Exactly why this is the case is unclear, but it does not seem to relate to clinical factors, hospital factors, or insurance status, according to the report in the Journal of the AmericanCollege of Surgery ...(continued)
COCOA - Five years ago, after dealing with frequent colds and extreme fatigue, Theresa Lang visited a doctor to undergo blood tests. The results shocked the 56-year-old Cocoa resident and changed her life's direction. "The results came back and they said I had hepatitis C," Ms. Lang said. "I almost had a stroke (from the shock)" ...(continued)
The San Francisco Chronicle on Sunday profiled Camp Liquid, an eight-day summer camp for HIV-positive people between ages 15 and 20. An offshoot of Healing Waters, a San Francisco not-for-profit group that provides outdoor adventures for adults living with HIV/AIDS, Camp Liquid aims to improve its participants' physical and mental well-being through learning basic whitewater kayaking skills ...(continued)
The National Institutes of Health announced today that it has increased its support of high-impact research with 2008 NIH Director’s Pioneer and New Innovator Awards to 47 scientists, many of whom are in the early stages of their careers. The grants, estimated to be up to $138 million over five years, enable recipients to pursue exceptionally innovative approaches that could transform biomedical and behavioral science ...(continued)
In May of this year, a 42-year-old HIV positive man in Texas who spat at a police officer during an arrest received a cumulative sentence of 35 years by a Dallas court after a jury was convinced that the man had used his saliva as a "deadly weapon." More than 180 media outlets around the world picked up news of the case – but only a handful clarified the impossibility of contracting HIV by being spit on. Since then, the media has reported on at least three other cases of the criminal prosecution of people accused of exposing others to HIV by spitting ...(continued)
This analysis finds that, even with its new drug benefit, Medicare on average provides less generous benefits to seniors than they would receive under a typical large-employer health plan or the most popular plan available to federal employees ...(continued)
Newsweek on Thursday examined the effects of aging on HIV-positive people older than age 50, who currently comprise the fastest-growing group of people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. From 1990 to 2005, the number of HIV cases among people older than 50 increased by more than 700%, according to local Department of Health studies. In addition, the AIDS Community Research Initiative of America reports that 35% of HIV-positive people are age 50 or older, and 70% are age 40 or older ...(continued)
WHO NEEDS CONTRACEPTIVE SERVICES? There were 66.4 million U.S. women of reproductive age (13–44) in 2006. More than half of these women (36.2 million) were in need of contraceptive services and supplies; that is, they were sexually active and able to become pregnant, but did not wish to become pregnant. The number in need increased 7% since 2000 ...(continued)
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has nominated individuals to serve as members of the Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB). The SMRB will examine the NIH's organizational structure and balance and will provide recommendations for enhancing the agency's mission through greater agency flexibility and responsiveness ...(continued)
The Washington Post on Friday examined the "record numbers" of undergraduate college students who are taking classes in epidemiology, global health and public health, driven in part by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a motivation to contribute to the field.
According to a recent survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 16% of its member colleges now offer a public health major or minor and most students are required to complete fieldwork or research. The association has offered courses during the summer for the past two years to 63 schools who are interested in adding a public health major. Many universities with existing programs have accommodated the demand by students for courses in epidemiology, public health and global health by adding more sections of these courses ...(continued)
The 2008 U.S. Conference on AIDS, sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council, began on Thursday in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and through Sunday will focus on ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in minority communities, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (Lewis et al., South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 9/18). More than 4,000 government officials, health care workers and those living with HIV/AIDS are expected to attend the conference, which has the theme, "Looking Back, Moving Forward" ...(continued)
Health care insurers will be required to cover routine HIV tests if a bill (AB 1894) passed by the California Legislature in August is signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), the San Fernando Valley Business Journal reports. According to the California Office of AIDS, about 40,000 Californians are HIV-positive but are not aware of their status. CDC figures show that about 40% of the U.S. population has ever received an HIV test ...(continued)
The Washington Post on Friday examined the "record numbers" of undergraduate college students who are taking classes in epidemiology, global health and public health, driven in part by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and a motivation to contribute to the field ...(continued)
Bethesda, Maryland — Ting-Kai Li, M.D., director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) since November 2002, announced today that he will step down from his post and retire from Federal service, effective October 31, 2008. Kenneth R. Warren, Ph.D., the NIAAA Deputy Director since February 2008, will serve as Acting Director of the Institute while a search for a new Director is initiated ...(continued)
Women troubled by hot flashes and night sweats during the years around menopause want safe, effective treatment options. A new research initiative from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will establish a multisite research network to conduct clinical trials of promising treatments for the most common symptoms of the menopausal transition ...(continued)
Ghanaian Vice President Aliu Mahama on Monday called on African governments to increase spending on health services to help the continent meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target of reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2015, GNA/My Joy Online reports. Mahama was speaking at the opening of a three-day seminar -- organized by Friends of the Global Fund Africa and the African Council of AIDS Service Organizations -- that aimed to increase the capacity of nongovernmental organizations in the region. Representatives of 60 African grassroots health groups from 26 countries attended the conference ...(continued)
Poland's National AIDS Centre has launched a campaign called "Return Without HIV" aimed at encouraging people to take HIV tests after traveling to regions with high HIV/AIDS burdens, The News reports. According to the center, people between ages 18 and 39 are most at risk of HIV in Poland in part because they often travel without their partners. In addition, risky sexual behavior during holiday trips now is one of the most common ways of contracting HIV in the country, the center said. The campaign was launched in July and will end on Dec. 1, 2009, which is World AIDS Day ...(continued)
An increasing percentage of teenagers in Malawi have taken an HIV test during the past two years, according to a Welfare Monitoring Survey recently released by the National Statistical Office, Malawi's Nation Reporter reports. According to the survey, the percentage of Malawians older than age 15 who have ever received an HIV test increased from 20% in 2006 to 34% in 2007. The age group surveyed is the most affected by the disease, which has led to losses for Malawi's work force and contributed to an increase in AIDS orphans in the country, according to the Reporter. Mary Shawa -- principal secretary in the Office of the President and Cabinet responsible for HIV/AIDS and nutrition -- said that the increase in testing is because of government initiatives aimed at combating the disease ...(continued)
A practice within some Kenyan fishing communities in which young female fish sellers develop sexual relationships with fishermen and middlemen in exchange for fish is exposing a new generation to HIV, IRIN/PlusNews reports. According to statistics from the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization, HIV prevalence among Kenyans in the fishing industry was 30.5% in 2006 ...(continued)
Two newer atypical antipsychotic medications were no more effective than an older conventional antipsychotic in treating child and adolescent schizophrenia [http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml] and may lead to more metabolic side effects, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The study was published online September 15, 2008, in the American Journal of Psychiatry ...(continued)
Two new members to the National Advisory Council for Nursing Research (NACNR), the principal advisory board for the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR), were announced today. The NACNR meets three times a year to provide recommendations on the conduct and support of biomedical, social, and behavioral research that provides an evidence base for nursing practice. NINR, one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), supports basic and clinical research to establish a scientific basis for the care of individuals across the lifespan ...(continued)
Disease interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria and increased access to HIV treatment and prevention, have helped reduce the number of deaths among children younger than age five worldwide to 9.2 million in 2007, down from 9.7 million in 2006 and 12.7 million in 1990, according to a UNICEF report published Friday in the journal Lancet, Reuters reports (Kahn, Reuters, 9/12). Although deaths among children younger than age five have declined by more than 50% since 1990 in East Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe, progress remains "grossly insufficient," particularly in much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the report said (BBC News, 9/12) ...(continued)
Kenya's plan to launch a male circumcision campaign in the province of Nyanza in late September to curb the spread of HIV is facing difficulties from some members of the Luo community, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The Luo community in Nyanza traditionally does not practice male circumcision, and members of the Luo Council of Elders -- an advisory body that still holds significant influence -- have threatened to disrupt the campaign's launch if they are not consulted, according to IRIN/PlusNews. Riaga Ogallo, chair of the council, said that the council is not opposed to male circumcision "as long as it is voluntary," adding that "if anybody thinks they can force something alien on our community, then they are mistaken." Ogallo added that he is concerned the emphasis on male circumcision could encourage unprotected sex among young men ...(continued)
Disease interventions, such as the use of insecticide-treated nets to prevent malaria and increased access to HIV treatment and prevention, have helped reduce the number of deaths among children younger than age five worldwide to 9.2 million in 2007, down from 9.7 million in 2006 and 12.7 million in 1990, according to a UNICEF report published Friday in the journal Lancet, Reuters reports (Kahn, Reuters, 9/12). Although deaths among children younger than age five have declined by more than 50% since 1990 in East Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Central and Eastern Europe, progress remains "grossly insufficient," particularly in much of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the report said (BBC News, 9/12) ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS cases among young people between ages 13 and 24 in Michigan has almost doubled from 5.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2002 to 9.7 cases per 100,000 people in 2006, according to data from the state's Department of Community Health, the Detroit News reports. An estimated 18,000 people with HIV/AIDS currently live in Michigan ...(continued)
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., has nominated individuals to serve as members of the Scientific Management Review Board (SMRB). The SMRB will examine the NIH's organizational structure and balance and will provide recommendations for enhancing the agency's mission through greater agency flexibility and responsiveness ...(continued)
In 1944, Congress passed the Public Health Service Act, which laid the foundation for a modern National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support biomedical research through extramural grants, largely to academic research institutions. This basic system remains in place and has served the Nation — indeed the world — very well. With over a half century of advances supported by the Agency, NIH is comprised of 27 Institutes and Centers based on the burden of disease; race, gender and demographic disparities; and individual organ systems of the human body. The field of biomedical research burgeoned as life was extended, diseases were conquered and knowledge was expanded ...(continued)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on International Literacy Day on Monday called for increased attention to the connection between literacy and health, including HIV/AIDS issues, Xinhuanet reports. "Illiteracy has a direct impact on human health," Ban said in a statement, adding, "It prevents people from being able to read the instructions on a medicine bottle. It means that people are less likely to know facts about AIDS, malaria and other infectious diseases" ...(continued)
The Houston Chronicle on Saturday examined the Baylor College of Medicine's International Pediatric AIDS Initiative in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. According to the Chronicle, the initiative was established in Bobo-Dioulasso almost two years ago, and physicians initially believed that "by now they would be treating patients ... in their own facility with modern equipment." However, the initiative has been "slowed" by cultural issues and the remoteness of the clinic site, the Chronicle reports, adding that Baylor staff still work out of a wing in a government hospital. According to Mark Kline, president of the Baylor program, the new facility likely will be completed by March 2009 ...(continued)
We are pleased to inform you that the NY Harm Reduction Coalition Fall 2008 Training Calendar is now available online! Please click here to view the calendar on our website. Click title to download the calendar. All trainings take place at the Harm Reduction Coalition, 22 W. 27th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10001. *NOTE: The training on Thursday, December 18th, Women & HIV, is FREE. Please disregard the course fee. Please register at your earliest convenience as space is limited. Contact us at 212.683.2334 with any questions regarding our trainings. Visit www.harmreduction.org for more about HRC, current news in the field of harm reduction, more information on the 7th National Harm Reduction Conference in Miami, and much more!
We look forward to seeing you!
Researchers in Kiev, Ukraine conducted a study "To revise the national HIV estimates and quantify the magnitude of the HIV epidemic in Ukraine at the end of 2007. Internationally recommended methods-the Workbook and Spectrum-were employed to generate the estimates." "This enables comparison of results with other countries using the same methodology. Estimation of the size of most at-risk populations nationally was performed using capture-recapture, multiplier and triangulation methods. HIV prevalence among most at-risk populations was estimated by linked HIV sentinel and behavioural surveillance among injecting drug users, and men who have sex with men, and unlinked sentinel surveillance among sex workers. The range of HIV prevalence and extrapolation for populations at lower risk were determined by consensus among national stakeholders. Results were reviewed by national stakeholders and endorsed by the government of Ukraine. At the end of 2007, an estimated 395 000 adults (range 230 000-573 000) aged 15-49 were living with HIV in Ukraine. Adult HIV prevalence was estimated at 1.63%, which represents the highest adult HIV prevalence of any country in Europe. The HIV epidemic in Ukraine continues to grow at a record pace, concentrated a! mong most at-risk populations, the majority of whom are unaware of their HIV status," wrote Y.V. Kruglov and colleagues, AIDS Center.
A report recently released by World Vision has found that girls in developing countries who marry before age 18 -- whose numbers are expected to double to 100 million in the next 10 years -- are at an increased risk of HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports.
According to the report, young brides are forced to have sex before their bodies are ready, and few have access to reliable contraception and reproductive health information. The report added that "[f]orced sex causes skin and tissue damage that makes a female more susceptible to contracting sexually transmitted infections from her husband" ...(continued)
Despite rising food and energy prices and slowing economic growth worldwide, aid to developing nations has been on the decline, according to a United Nations report released on Thursday by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the New York Times reports. The report found that aid decreased by 8.4% in 2007, following a 4.7% decrease in 2006 (Macfarquhar, New York Times, 9/4). Aid had increased steadily between 1997 and 2005 (AP/USA Today, 9/4). In addition, although the Group of Eight industrialized nations in 2005 pledged to increase aid to Africa by 2010, only $4 billion has been delivered to the continent, according to the report (New York Times, 9/4) ...(continued)
About 1,000 people in the Swazi city of Manzini held a protest on Wednesday, calling for democratic reforms and increased social spending to address issues such as HIV/AIDS in the country, Reuters Africa reports. The protesters were critical of what is anticipated to be an expensive celebration over the weekend for the 40th birthday of King Mswati, which coincides with the country's 40th anniversary of independence from the United Kingdom. Mswati has "courted controversy for his lavish lifestyle" while two-thirds of people in the country live in poverty and 40% of adults live with HIV/AIDS, according to Reuters Africa (Matsebula, Reuters Africa, 9/4) ...(continued)
According to the CDC′s 2007 National Immunization Survey (NIS), childhood immunization rates remain at or near record levels with at least 90 percent coverage for all but one of the vaccines in the recommended series for young children. More than 77 percent of children were fully vaccinated for the complete series of recommended vaccines, and there were no differences in coverage among any racial or ethnic group for the complete series. Importantly, less than one percent of children had received no vaccines by age 19 to 35 months. The NIS coverage data includes children born between January 2004 and July 2006. There were no statistically significant decreases in individual vaccine coverage from 2006 to 2007. For the first time in 2007, there was 90 percent coverage for varicella vaccine and for the third dose of PCV. One dose of varicella vaccine increased in 2007 to 90 percent compared to the 2006 coverage rate of 89.2 percent. There were also significant increases for pneumococcal conjugate vaccine. Coverage of three or more doses of increased from 86.9 percent in 2006 to 90.0 percent in 2007, and coverage four or more doses rose from 68.4 percent in 2006 to 75.3 percent in 2007. Varicella vaccine and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine coverage among American Indian and Alaska Native children increased significantly. Varicella coverage increased from 85.4 percent in 2006 to 94.9 percent in 2007 and coverage with the fourth dose of PCV7 increased from 64.8 percent to 80.4 percent.
~Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - 09/04/2008
The vast majority of the nation’s parents are having their children get recommended vaccinations, according to 2007 vaccine coverage estimates released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Childhood immunization rates remain at or near record levels, with at least 90 percent coverage for all but one of the individual vaccines in the recommended series for young children, said the CDC′s 2007 National Immunization Survey (NIS) ...(continued)
~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 09/04/2008M
An HIV/AIDS and human rights charter that aims to protect and promote the rights of people living with the disease was proposed recently by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, the ZimbabweStandard reports. Tinashe Mundawarara -- program manager for ZLHR's HIV/AIDS, Human Rights and Law Project, which was established in 2004 to create a rights-based legal response to Zimbabwe's HIV/AIDS epidemic -- said, "This charter is a result of concentrated efforts by many national partners who are committed to ensuring dignity, justice and equality for all." He added the project plans to promote the charter to the government as a means to "formulate legislative laws" to protect those living with HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
Stakeholders involved in St. Lucia's education system met last week to commence work on an HIV/AIDS policy for the sector, the Caribbean Media Corporation/Antigua Sun reports. The policy will include mechanisms to ensure that the education system can deal with the disease, and Nahum Jn Baptiste, head of St. Lucia's HIV Secretariat, said that orphans and vulnerable children will be targeted under the policy. He added that the policy will address issues such as identifying students in need of care and referring them to providers (Caribbean Media Corporation/Antigua Sun, 9/1). "There will also be the issue of health and family life education, so it's not just about the transmission of HIV and AIDS but trying to have students develop positive lifestyles, which would help secure them not only from the spread of HIV and other sexually transmitted [infections] but to live a full life," Jn Baptiste said. According to Jn Baptiste, the policy will be implemented when the draft is approved by St. Lucia's Cabinet (Caribbean Media Corporation, 9/1).
The Press Trust of India on Tuesday examined HIV/AIDS among Indian populations on the island of Mauritius. According to Audrey dHotman de Villiers, an advocate working with an HIV/AIDS prevention group in Mauritius, Hindu leaders have not been vocal in the community or taken responsibility to fight HIV/AIDS, despite signs of increased drug use and risky sexual behavior. De Villiers said her organization believes that "sufficient work was done" by the end of last year for HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention on the island, except among Indian populations, particularly in rural areas ...(continued)
Black women who undergo a lumpectomy surgery to treat early-stage breast cancer are less likely than their white counterparts to receive the recommended follow-up radiation therapy treatments, according to study released on Wednesday, Reuters/Boston Globe reports. Standard care after a lumpectomy includes a series of radiation treatments to ensure that all cancerous cells have been treated ...(continued)
The Washington Post on Tuesday examined HIV/AIDS outreach efforts aimed at African immigrants in the U.S. According to the Post, some health researchers say that the "message" that HIV/AIDS also affects Africans in the U.S. is "growing in importance as they become increasingly concerned that the AIDS epidemic ravaging sub-Saharan Africa is following migrants from that continent to America" ...(continued)
The XVII International AIDS Conference took place August 3-8 in Mexico City. Drawing more than 20,000 participants, the large biannual conference covered all aspects of HIV/AIDS and its management, including an oral abstract session and numerous poster presentations on HIV/HCV coinfection ...(continued)
About 12,000 of the 50,000 HIV-positive children in Uganda who are in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving the treatment, delegates said on Wednesday during the second annual national pediatric HIV/AIDS conference in Kampala, Uganda, the Monitor reports. According to the Monitor, there are currently 110,000 HIV-positive children living in the country (Kirunda, Monitor, 8/21) ...(continued)
A Sydney couple - in hiding after refusing to have their newborn baby vaccinated against hepatitis B - also have a three-year-old child who could be carrying the virus. The parents fled their Croydon Park home on Thursday to avoid police and Department of Community Services (DoCS) officials, after they refused to have their three-day-old son vaccinated at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital ...(continued)
Updated incidence rates from the CDC and NCI for breast cancer and cervical cancer are now available for 2004 for all states. The 2004 breast cancer and cervical cancer incidence rates by race/ethnicity are also available by state. Click to view.
The seven New Orleans black ministers who participated in the Clergy Community HIV Testing Day earlier this week are "helping to remove the fear and stigma that prevents people from learning their HIV status," a New Orleans Times-Picayune editorial says. According to the editorial, the ministers broke "what they described as the black church's silence on HIV/AIDS" when they publically took HIV tests in front of their congregations and "urg[ed] congregants to do likewise." Sixty-three percent of the newly diagnosed HIV cases in New Orleans last year were among blacks, the editorial says. Early prevention is a "critical message, especially for" blacks, the editorial says, concluding that the ministers' "actions spoke volumes to a vulnerable population" (New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8/27).
The number of HIV/AIDS cases recorded in the Philippines is increasing, Health Secretary Francisco Duque said on Tuesday, adding that the prevalence of the disease in the country remains low, AFP/Yahoo! News reports. Duque said that even though the Philippines is a low-prevalence country, it "should not be a reason to be complacent." An average of 29 HIV cases were reported monthly in 2007 and 2008, Duque said, adding that an average of 20 cases monthly were recorded in previous years, according to AFP/Yahoo! News ...(continued)
Increased access to no-cost antiretroviral drugs has contributed to a 75% decrease in AIDS-related deaths in Malawi in the last four years, a senior government official said Monday, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, HIV/AIDS has been linked to 59% of deaths among people between ages 15 and 59 in the country of 13 million. However, Malawi has made progress since 2004, when it started offering no-cost antiretrovirals to thousands of HIV-positive people, Reuters reports ...(continued)
Mother-to-child HIV transmission rates remain high in Uganda, despite services made available by the government to prevent MTCT, IRIN/PlusNews reports. Government figures estimate 20,000 children contract the virus annually, accounting for 42% of all new cases in the country, according to IRIN/PlusNews. "The large and growing unmet need for pediatric HIV/AIDS (services) demonstrates that failure of our PMTCT programs to avert parent-to-child-transmission of HIV," Keith McKenzie, country representative for UNICEF, said. Of the approximately 100,000 people with antiretroviral drug access in Uganda, 10,000 are children, according to the Ministry of Health. An additional 40,000 children are believed to be in need of treatment access, and slightly more than half of the country's 310 antiretroviral clinics provide pediatric drugs. "If we prevent HIV infection in children, then we do not need to take care of them when they are infected," Phillipa Musoke, chair of the health department's pediatric committee, said ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS advocates in Stamford, Conn., are expressing concern about HIV/AIDS cases among Hispanics and how to effectively target outreach efforts toward the community, the Stamford Advocate reports ...(continued)
This week all eyes are on Denver as the Democratic National Convention makes history by becoming the first major party to nominate a Black American to be their candidate for the President of the United States. Among those eyes will be people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. I am here in Denver to look at this convention thru those eyes. I will try to report to you what I see every day ...(continued)
Seven ministers in New Orleans on Sunday took HIV tests in front of their congregations totaling more than 2,000 people in an effort to confront the stigma associated with the virus in the black community, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports. HIV tests were offered immediately after the services at nearby locations or in the churches themselves. The Clergy Community HIV Testing Day Committee spearheaded the initiative in partnership with the HIV/AIDS Program of the Louisiana Office of Public Health and the NO/AIDS Task Force. Joseph Merrill, minister of the New Kingdom Missionary Baptist Church, participated in the testing and said that HIV is "no longer a white man's disease," adding, "We've been silent, quiet, absent. We've ignored it. We've been afraid to mention it." According to the Times-Picayune, 63% of people newly diagnosed with HIV in the greater New Orleans area last year were black, with nearly 25% of new cases occurring among women. New Orleans was ranked eighth in the nation in 2006 for AIDS case rates per capita, and Baton Rouge was ranked fourth, the Times-Picayune reports (Reckdahl, New Orleans Times-Picayune, 8/25).
The Democratic Party today begins a week in which it will rewrite American political history by formally nominating Barack Obama as its presidential candidate. That will be a tremendous political accomplishment, for Obama and for America. But to many observers, this year's Democratic National Convention represents something larger: proof that America is finally on the road toward a more perfect union where all of its people really matter ...(continued)
Vietnam's General Department of Population and Family Planning under the Ministry of Health on Tuesday launched an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign that promotes safer-sex practices among young people in the country, the VNS/Viet Nam News reports. The campaign will focus on youth ages 15 to 24 in 15 provinces with large ethnic minority populations. It falls under the framework of a $20 million campaign funded by the Asian Development Bank and implemented by the population and family planning department between 2007 and 2011 ...(continued)
IRIN/PlusNews on Wednesday profiled Bellissima, an Ethiopian cafe located in the capital of Addis Ababa that provides no-cost "Sensation" brand condoms with every order. Hayat Ahmed, 2003 Miss Ethiopia and owner of Bellissima, said that as the brand ambassador for "Sensation" condoms in the country, she "wanted to link business with a message for sexually active people." According to IRIN/PlusNews, the cafe's concept is modeled on "condom bars" in Asia. Within the first two days of business, the cafe handed out six boxes that contained 48 packets of three condoms each. The campaign is supported by social marketing groups like DKT Ethiopia, and Ahmed said she plans to open more cafes around the country and promote other HIV/AIDS prevention strategies, such as fidelity and abstinence. Ahmed said that many Ethiopians are "ashamed" to discuss condom use and that she wants to "spread the message that condoms can protect you from HIV/AIDS." According to IRIN/PlusNews, the no-cost condoms have "elicited mixed reactions, with older patrons tending not to like the idea, while younger ones love it and sometimes ask for a second packet." Ahmed added that she plans to set up condom vending machines in the cafe (IRIN/PlusNews, 8/20).
Each year, publicly funded family planning providers enable millions of poor and low-income women throughout the U.S. to achieve their childbearing goals and avoid unplanned pregnancies. These services have numerous benefits, including health benefits for women and infants due to better birth spacing,1 personal benefits for individuals who have a greater chance of realizing their educational and career goals, and economic benefits for both families and society due to personal and public cost savings associated with fewer unplanned children.2 Moreover, publicly funded family planning care typically involves much more than just contraceptive ...(continued)
Providing critical financial support to a nationwide network of family planning provider agencies has been at the heart of the federalTitle X program since its enactment nearly four decades ago. Among the various federal and state programs that subsidize clinical family planning services,Title X is uniquely equipped to play this role. And it will remain an essential role long into the future, even assuming Medicaid coverage expansions and eventual broader-based health insurance reform.Without a vibrant provider system, simply having a source of payment will still be little more than a hollow promise to many young and low-income people in need of contraceptive and closely related preventive health care (related article, Winter 2008, page 6) ...(continued)
A team of researchers is examining how different perceptions of masculinity can influence HIV prevention messages in Central America, the Columbia State reports. The team, which is supported by USAID and Population Services International, has held focus groups with 1,200 men from El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Panama to learn about different perceptions of masculinity and how the men see themselves. The men completed 11-point surveys on issues such as what motivates them, what is important in life and what word best describes them. Using the surveys, the researchers developed six primary categories to which HIV/AIDS prevention messages can be customized, according to the State. "It's another approach for behavioral change messages," Susana Lungo, program director for the initiative, said ...(continued)
The question of when life begins is an eternal one, debated by philosophers and theologians for centuries, and likely destined to forever elude consensus. However, on the separate but closely related question of when a woman is considered pregnant, the medical community has long been clear: Pregnancy is established when a fertilized egg has been implanted in the wall of a woman's uterus. The definition is critical to distinguishing between a contraceptive that prevents pregnancy and an abortifacient that terminates it. And on this point, federal policy has long been both consistent and in accord with the scientists: Drugs and devices that act before implantation prevent, rather than terminate, pregnancy ...(continued)
~Guttmacher Institute - May 2005, Volume 8, Number 2
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - Monogram Biosciences, Inc. announced today that Christine A. White, M.D. has been appointed to the company's board of directors. "Christine White brings to our board a wealth of experience in oncology, as a practicing oncologist as well as several years in clinical development and medical affairs in oncology drug development," said William D. Young, Monogram's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "With the recent launch of the HERmark(TM) Breast Cancer Assay and with several additional assays in our development pipeline, I am delighted to have the counsel of an experienced oncologist on our board" ...(continued)
A majority of states require parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. In light of two U.S. Supreme Court rulings that prohibit parents from having absolute veto over their daughters’ decision to have an abortion, many states require the consent or notification of only one parent, usually 24 or 48 hours before the procedure. Many parental involvement requirements also include a medical emergency exception and a judicial bypass procedure, through which a minor may receive court approval to obtain an abortion without parental involvement. Not all states adhere to this model. On the more stringent end of the spectrum, a handful of states require the consent or notification of both parents. On the other end, several states allow grandparents or other adult relatives to be involved in place of the minors’ parents, or as in Maine the law allows a minor with the guidance and counseling of an abortion provider to consent to the procedure. In cases of neglect or abuse, some states waive the consent or notification requirement altogether. State court decisions have also contributed to the diversity in requirements: Some state courts have enjoined laws they conclude violate their states’ constitutions; at the same time, similar or even more restrictive laws remain in effect in other states. Click to read article.
Human rights groups in Uganda recently called on the government to pass a bill aimed at addressing domestic violence against women that often results from issues related to HIV/AIDS, Uganda's New Vision reports. Advocates recently held a demonstration in front of Uganda's Parliament in the capital of Kampala with signs reading, "Women Do Not Cause HIV/AIDS," "Stop Violence Against Women," "Fight HIV/AIDS, Stop Discrimination," "Men Wake Up" and "HIV/AIDS Does Not Mean That You Should Kill." According to the New Vision, the advocates were reacting to recent reports of women being murdered by their husbands because of the women's alleged HIV-positive status ...(continued)
Caribbean nations will establish national HIV/AIDS workplace policies as soon as a regional policy modeled after International Labour Organization guidelines is ready, the Jamaica Observer reports. According to Carl Browne, director of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS who spoke at the XVII International AIDS Conference earlier this month, the organization will work with individual countries to implement national workplace policies tailored to specific needs with the goal of benefitting employees and their families. The policies will include support services and education programs, and a toolkit with relevant videos will be available for countries to provide to businesses ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS advocates in Georgia have become concerned that "[o]ld messages geared to urban, white, gay men simply don't resonate with many" black, rural, women and young people, who now are the "new face" of HIV/AIDS in the state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to the Journal-Constitution, it is becoming more difficult to reach such high-risk groups with prevention, testing and treatment services ...(continued)
HIV/AIDS advocates in Georgia have become concerned that "[o]ld messages geared to urban, white, gay men simply don't resonate with many" black, rural, women and young people, who now are the "new face" of HIV/AIDS in the state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. According to the Journal-Constitution, it is becoming more difficult to reach such high-risk groups with prevention, testing and treatment services ...(continued)
PORT ANGELES — The accidental needle prick didn't hurt much 20-some years ago, certainly not enough for Christine Hurst to remember. What she'll never forget is how it turned her life inside out. "I was diagnosed with hepatitis C in 1998 after several years of having chronic fatigue and flu-like symptoms, but never getting really sick," she said last week in Clallam County's Health and Human Services Department ...(continued)
Tune in today at 5:30pm Pacific Time when Tawn Mastrey's sister, Cara Mastrey visits KNAC.COM to update Junkman on the Tawn Mastrey Foundation, and the Tawn Mastrey Hepatitis C Aware Project which has initial offers of help from many a rock star whom Tawn's life and passing touched in an indelible way. The following press release provides more information on the project:
Three family deaths, a band member’s death and being diagnosed with hepatitis C haven’t kept Louisiana bluesman Kenny Neal down. It’s made him stronger ...(continued)
This much is true: In the United States, the abortion rate for black women is almost five times that for white women. Antiabortion activists, including some African-American pastors, have been waging a campaign around this fact, falsely asserting that the disparity is the result of aggressive marketing by abortion providers to minority communities ...(continued)
NPR's "Tell Me More" on Wednesday profiled two HIV-positive advocates in the black community. According to a recent report from the Black AIDS Institute, nearly 600,000 blacks in the U.S. are living with HIV/AIDS, and more than 20,000 blacks contract the virus annually. HIV/AIDS also is the leading cause of death for black women ages 25 to 34, according to "Tell Me More" ...(continued)
Married women in India whose husbands physically and sexually abuse them are about four times more likely to contract HIV compared with married women in the country who do not experience abuse, according to a study published recently in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Reuters UK reports. Researchers, led by Jay Silverman of the Harvard School of Public Health, examined data from India's National Family Health Survey between 2005 and 2006. The data included information about 28,139 married women ...(continued)
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in September will begin a two-year study to determine whether a lack of trust of the U.S. medical system is a factor behind a higher mortality rate among Hispanics with HIV/AIDS, the Winston-Salem Journal reports. Previous research has found that a number of factors -- including low incomes, a lack of health insurance and preventive care, and communication barriers -- affect Hispanics' health outcomes ...(continued)
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Wednesday is scheduled to arrive in Cote d'Ivoire, where he will visit projects aimed at fighting HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, AFP/Google.com reports. Leavitt will spend two days in the country, which receives funding from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. PEPFAR has allocated $120 million for Cote d'Ivoire's HIV/AIDS efforts from April 2008 to March 2009, according to the U.S. embassy in Abidjan. The $120 million represents a 43% increase in funding compared with the previous year, AFP/Google.com reports. According to the embassy, a second five-year HIV/AIDS project likely will be approved by the government this year (AFP/Google.com, 8/11). CDC Director Julie Gerberding and coordinator of the President's Malaria Initiative Tim Ziemer are traveling with Leavitt, and they also will visit Ethiopia and Mali. The officials will meet with government representatives in the three countries; visit hospitals, research centers and clinics; and travel to rural communities. They also will meet with religious leaders and look at the role of faith-based organizations in health care (HHS release, 8/8).
HIV is being detected in Texas Hispanics at later stages than in other ethnic groups in the state, which increases their risk of spreading the virus and delaying treatment, the Dallas Morning News reports. There are more than 8,000 Hispanics living with AIDS in Texas, which has the largest recent influx of new Hispanic immigrants in the nation ...(continued)
Robert H. Carter, M.D., former director of the Division of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), has been selected as deputy director of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Carter will be assuming his official responsibilities as of October 1, 2008 ...(continued)
A top Nevada health official told lawmakers Tuesday that new laws could streamline oversight and responses to a public health threat such as the hepatitis C outbreak that prompted a massive patient notification effort earlier this year ...(continued)
How do women living with genital herpes and/or HPV (human papilloma virus) infections see themselves as sexual beings, and what choices do they make about sexual health issues? Adina Nack, a medical sociologist who specializes in sexual health and social psychology, conducted in-depth interviews with 43 women about their identities and sexuality in regards to chronic illness. The result is a fascinating book about an issue that affects over 15 million Americans, but is all too little discussed ...(continued)
Many children continue to lack access to effective HIV detection programs and antiretroviral drugs, HIV/AIDS experts said Thursday at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, AFP/Google.com reports. They added that most HIV-positive women have no effective access to means of preventing mother-to-child transmission and that 30% to 40% of those women give birth to an HIV-positive infant ...(continued)
India's National AIDS Control Organisation has said it will increase HIV prevention efforts among men who have sex with men by sixfold by the end of the year, the Times of India reports. The announcement was made following the release of the American Foundation for AIDS Research report at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City that found MSM are 19 times more likely than the general population to be HIV-positive ...(continued)
MEXICO CITY -- The Black AIDS Institute hosted a reception honoring Congresswoman Barbara Lee on Wednesday night at the Marquis Reforma, The Ballroom in Mexico City. Lee was honored for her consistent and pro-active service on HIV/AIDS legislation in America ...(continued)
MEXICO CITY -- There is finally some good news on the AIDS front. “In the 1980’s, 1,500 infants were born with HIV,” said Kevin Fenton, director of the CDC’s National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention. “That number dropped to less than 60 for 2006. This is due to better screening, better awareness, and infants being provided with anti-viral therapy,” The decline of mother to child infections is perhaps the major success story in the fight against HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
Henry, a 50 year old man with chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV), went to a well-known hepatologist. This specialist told Henry that he had cirrhosis and needed immediate treatment. Henry and his family were scared, thinking he was going to die soon ...(continued)
MEXICO CITY -- There is a new trend that is running wild among Black teens. It isn’t a new designer jean or an expensive cell phone rapper 50 Cent endorsed. The new trend is that HIV/AIDS is affecting youth at an alarming rate. Although African Americans represent only 16 percent of U.S. teens, they represented 69 percent of all new AIDS cases reported among teens in 2005. Dr. Helen Gayle, president of CARE, said, “There is a lack of youth tailored prevention programs that relate to the youth culture" ...(continued)
The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) monitors priority health risk behaviors that contribute to the leading causes of death, disability, and social problems among youth and adults in the United States. The national YRBS is conducted every two years during the spring semester and provides data representative of 9th through 12th grade students in public and private schools throughout the United States. Click title to view report.
Thanks to Karen Hardee of Population Action International (PAI), who presented today on the "Getting Our Voices Heard: Shaping Public Policy" panel, I now know that the ABCs (Abstinence, Be Faithful, use Condoms) of HIV prevention were not originally a half-brained concoction of the Bush administration. However, her presentation also prompted thoughts about the limitations of public health approaches ...(continued)
Tuesday's symposium during the afternoon provided plenty of food for thought. Deloris Dockrey from the US, Shaun Mellors from South Africa, Carlos García de León from Mexico and Veronica from ICW who substituted for Promise Mthembu all gave their reasons and thoughts behind the movement to provide sexual and reproductive right services and information to People Living with HIV-AIDS ...(continued)
MEXICO CITY -- In and around Atlanta, Dazon Dixon Diallo has been known as “the lady with the dildoes.” That’s because her organization, SisterLove Inc., hosts graphically entertaining Healthy Love parties to teach women the basics of HIV/AIDS prevention and safer sex practices while affirming their right to control their sexual health and have a little fun, too ...(continued)
African-Americans in North Texas and around the country will never be able to successfully fight the HIV/AIDS epidemic among them until they boldly confront another disease that is crippling their community. That other disease is silence, and it can be deadly. It keeps most blacks from even talking about the killer virus running rampant among certain populations ...(continued)
MEXICO CITY - "In my community, living with HIV is synonymous with death," Fernando Sol�s, a 34-year-old member of the Cuna ethnic group in Panama, told IPS. Sol�s, who was diagnosed four years ago, is now working in prevention efforts among other young indigenous people, which he described as "the key to eradicating the epidemic in our communities" ...(continued)
Mexican migrant workers significantly change their sex habits and increase their risk for HIV after they arrive in the U.S., according to a study conducted by the Pilot Program of California-Mexico Epidemiology Vigilance and released on Tuesday at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, AFP/Google.com reports. The study involved 458 male Mexican migrant workers ages 18 to 69 who arrived in the U.S. during the past five years. Researchers conducted the study in California, where about 40% of Mexican immigrants live, in conjunction with state and Mexican authorities and social groups ...(continued)
Patients in the United States made an estimated 1.1 billion visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments in 2006, an average of four visits per person per year, according to new health care statistics released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The data come from various components of CDC's National Center for Health Statistics National Health Care Survey and are featured in a series of new National Health Statistics Reports. Some of the findings include:
* The number of visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments increased by 26 percent from 1996 to 2006, faster than the growth of the U.S. population, which rose by 11 percent. The rise in visits can be linked to both the aging of the population, as older people have higher visit rates than younger people in general.
* In 2006, seven out of 10 visits had at least one medication provided, prescribed, or continued, for a total of 2.6 billion medications overall. Analgesics (pain relievers) were the most common, accounting for 13.6 percent of all drugs prescribed, and were most often used during primary care and emergency department visits.
* The emergency department served as the route of admission to hospital inpatient services for roughly 50 percent of non-obstetric hospital patients in 2006, up from 36 percent in 1996.
* Patients with Medicaid use the emergency department more frequently than patients with private insurance - 82 per 100 persons for Medicaid vs. 21 per 100 for private insurance.
* Most emergency department visits occurred after business hours (defined as 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays), when 63 percent of adults and 73 percent of children younger than age 15 arrived.
* The overall average waiting time to see a physician in the Emergency Department was nearly 56 minutes.
* Over the past 36 years, the percent of hospital inpatients who were 65 years of age and older grew from 20 percent in 1970 to 38 percent in 2006. Over the same time period, the percent of inpatients who were 75 years of age and older grew from 9 percent to over 24 percent.
* The rate of knee replacement for those aged 65 years old and over increased 46 percent between 2000 and 2006, and the rate doubled among those aged 45-64 years during the same time period.
* The rate of coronary atherosclerosis (clogged heart arteries) more than doubled during the 1990s but since 2002 declined for all age groups, particularly for those 65 years and over.
* Between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of visits to hospital outpatient departments made by adults 18 years and over with chronic diabetes increased by 43 percent and visits with chronic high blood pressure increased by 51 percent.
The new series of health care reports can be accessed by clicking title.
~Department of Health and Human Services - 08/06/2008
MEXICO CITY -- The fight to end the global AIDS pandemic has found a staunch supporter in Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), co-author of PEPFAR, legislation that provides billions of dollars to prevent new HIV infections throughout the developing world. But her commitment to end the crisis in America is keenly targeted toward the African American community where she wants to see the problem fixed ...(continued)
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram beginning on Sunday published a series examining HIV/AIDS in the black community. Seven of the 10 states with the highest rate of HIV cases are in Southern states, where the disease is "ravaging" the black community, particularly women, the Star-Telegram reports. Overall, blacks comprise 13% of the U.S. population but account for nearly 50% of the more than one million HIV cases in the U.S., the Star-Telegram reports. Black women account for about two-thirds of the 127,000 women with HIV nationwide ...(continued)
Former leaders of Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia, as well as other well-known African figures, launched an initiative Tuesday at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City to put pressure on politicians whom they believe have not done enough to fight HIV/AIDS, Reuters reports (Rosenberg, Reuters, 8/6). The campaign is called "Champions for an HIV-Free Generation." Its founding members include former Botswanan President Festus Mogae; Joaquim Chissano, former president of Mozambique; former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda; South African Archbishop and Nobel peace laureate Desmond Tutu; and Miriam Were, head of the Kenyan National AIDS Control Council (Ingham, AFP/Khaleej Times, 8/6). The initiative calls for more government actions and public education campaigns to prevent new HIV cases in countries where up to one in four people are living with HIV/AIDS (Reuters, 8/6). Mogae also said the campaign's members would aim to launch "a dialogue" with governments about changing behavior, unsafe sex, stigma and discrimination against women. He added that the campaign would be open to prominent leaders all over Africa, as well as people "from all walks of life" (AFP/Khaleej Times, 8/6) ...(continued)
Although a recent UNAIDS report shows "encouraging progress in preventing HIV in a number of the most vulnerable countries," one "of the biggest hurdles for our global response to AIDS" is "the stigma factor," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon writes in a Washington Times opinion piece. Ban continues, "Stigma remains the single most important barrier to public action," and it "helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social disgrace of speaking about it or taking easily available precautions." He writes, "Stigma is a chief reason the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate societies around the world" ...(continued)
Who's spending what on prevention research? And what direction is funding heading in? These and other critical questions for the field are addressed in "Sustaining the HIV Prevention Research Agenda: Funding for Research Development of HIV Vaccines, Microbicides and Other New Prevention Tools (2000-2007)", a new report released today at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City (click here to read the press release). Released annually, this document tracks funding for the full array of experimental biomedical prevention strategies including vaccines, microbicides, and PrEP.
This year's report shows that, in 2007, US$961 million was spent on vaccines, US$226.5 on microbicides, and US$53.4 million on other new prevention options such as male circumcision, herpes simplex type-2 (HSV-2) suppression, cervical barriers and pre-exposure prophylaxis using antiretroviral drugs (PrEP).
Looking at trends, funding for vaccines and microbicides was level between 2006 and 2007, although significantly higher than levels in 2000, the first year for which data were collected.
Maintaining and increasing support for prevention research is critical, as is expanding access to proven prevention. A leveling off of funding could have a negative effect on these efforts, and, as the report argues, it will be critical to set and monitor funding targets for the future.
"Sustaining the HIV Prevention Research Agenda" was authored by the HIV Vaccines and Microbicides Resource Tracking Working Group, consisting of AVAC, the Alliance for Microbicide Development, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), and UNAIDS. The current report and an archive of the working group's earlier resource tracking reports can be found by clicking title.
As always, please contact us with any questions or comments.
~AVAC - 08/05/2008
Spain's First Vice President Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega on Sunday during her speech at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City announced her country's contribution of 10.2 million euros, or $15.9 million, to UNAIDS, BBC News/RedOrbit reports. Of that amount, three million euros, or $4.7 million, will be set aside to support the activities of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and 1.5 million euros, or $2.3 million, will go to the International Partnership for Microbicides ...(continued)
Greetings from Mexico City! This update contains a link to AVAC's newest publication, "Anticipating the Results of PrEP trials: A powerful new HIV prevention tool may be on the horizon. Are we prepared? which was released (click here for our press release) at the International AIDS Conference on August 3, 2008.
PrEP is an experimental, unproven strategy that aims to reduce the risk of acquiring HIV through the use of once-daily antiretrovirals in HIV-negative people. As the new report notes, by mid-2009 there could be more people enrolled in PrEP trials than in vaccine and microbicide efficacy trials combined.
In the report--and at our August 3rd satellite, "Preparing for PrEP"--AVAC calls for expanded and accelerated advance planning, including strong leadership from the World Health Organization and UNAIDS to engage civil society representatives including treatment activists, people living with HIV, health providers and prevention research advocates. Discussions about the implications of possible outcomes from the trials must start now, as results could come within a year.The slide set and summary of discussions from the AVAC satellite on PrEP will be available later this month at www.avac.org and www.prepwatch.org.
Click to download the report in English and Spanish. To request printed copies singly or in bulk, please email your request to publications@avac.org. Click to read "Mexico City's Subways, Mangled Meeting Agendas and the Ticking Clock on PrEP," a blog entry from AVAC's Program Director, Emily Bass.
Click title for recent media coverage on PrEP. What are your thoughts about what a positive result from a PrEP trial would mean? Share ideas, concerns and questions by emailing to avac@avac org, and we will post your input in a future update!
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the largest provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the United States. Founded in 1987, AHF provides antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment and care services to nearly 80,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in 20 countries throughout Africa, Asia, Latin America and the United States. AHF's international role in ART scale-up has evolved from delivering site-specific services to modeling and implementing integrated, comprehensive health systems of HIV care.
AHF has the following Career Opportunities for its international operations. We offer competitive salaries and an attractive benefits package. Click title for more information.
She lived through that traumatic night. Doctors told her she had pneumonia. She prepared to return to life as normal, but that would not happen. Her doctor would pay a visit to her room. There, he revealed some startling news: “You have HIV" ...(continued)
With his partner and a beautiful new baby daughter, Mauro Guarinieri relocated to Hanoi at the beginning of 2008 to take up a position as an HIV advisor with Constella Futures Group. In the two decades before that, Mauro fought for drug user and PLWH rights, becoming chairman of the European AIDS Treatment Group, chair of the global board of GNP+, and working for a couple years at the Open Society Institute. In this interview, Mauro talks about the shape of Vietnam’s HIV epidemic, and the government’s fits-and-starts effort to introduce harm reduction programs while still relying largely on prison, coerced detox, and other means of social control aimed at those most at risk of infection. Click title to see more.
Mexican officials on Wednesday announced their intention to promote sex education among young people in the country in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV, Xinhuanet reports. Speaking at a youth presentation in advance of next week's XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Ricardo Baruch, International AIDS Society youth program coordinator, said that sex education is a "right" and "should be promoted by all means available." Baruch added that sex education has a wide reach but is inexpensive and therefore cost efficient, Xinhuanet reports. Jorge Saavedra -- director of Censida, the National Center for the Control of HIV/AIDS in Mexico -- said that improving sex education among teenagers is a challenge. According to Saavedra, sex education should cover the proper use of condoms and safer-sex relations among young people. Priscila Vera, director of the Mexican Youth Institute, said that condoms will be handed out at no cost to young people in the coming months (Xinhuanet, 7/31).
Creating change' features success stories in addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace with a special focus on behaviour change programmes. It highlights the key role of ministries of Labour, employers' and workers' organizations in creating an enabling environment by strengthening the national policy and legal framework to address stigma and discrimination, and support workplace interventions. Click title to view.
The IAC website now has translations of the parent-education brochure "Questions Parents Ask about Baby Shots" in seven
languages in addition to English. The languages are Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, French, Korean, Russian, and Vietnamese. Links to all follow. Click title to view English version.
A study aimed at examining the effects on HIV/AIDS on universities in East Africa is scheduled to start in October, Tanzania's The Citizen reports. According to officials at the Inter-University Council for East Africa, the project initially will target 18 universities in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The project -- which will cost about $700,000 -- will involve the East African Community through the Lake Victoria Basin Commission. It is receiving funding from the Swedish International Development Agency. According to the project's manager Doreen Othero, the African Medical and Research Foundation also will be involved with the study ...(continued)
Vietnamese local governments should prioritize HIV/AIDS prevention measures, particularly education and communication programs that target injection drug use among young people, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Vinh Trong said on Tuesday at a symposium on HIV prevention and drug detoxification in Hanoi, Vietnam, the Vietnam News Agency reports ...(continued)
LOS ANGELES, California - The AIDS epidemic among African-Americans in some parts of the United States is as severe as in parts of Africa, according to a report out Tuesday."Left Behind - Black America: A Neglected Priority in the Global AIDS" is intended to raise awareness and remind the public that the "AIDS epidemic is not over in America, especially not in Black America," says the report, published by the Black AIDS Institute, an HIV/AIDS think tank focused exclusively on African-Americans ...(continued)
The Asian Development Bank recently released a manual that aims to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in infrastructure project workplaces by providing project developers with information and hands-on tools, the Thai News Service reports. The manual, titled "More Safety: A Resource Manual for Health and Safety in Infrastructure," highlights four steps to increase HIV prevention messages and reduce HIV risk factors in workplaces ...(continued)
We've got the August 2008 special issue of AIDS which will be released at the IAC. The theme of this special issue is LEAP: Leadership, Equity, Accountability, and Partnerships to provide concrete recommendations for implementing the Ford Foundation's Global HIV/AIDS Initiative. We applaud the journal, the Ford Foundation and the authors for their emphasis on social justice. Click title to be transferred.
We are writing to invite you to participate in a global civil society call to discuss the recent decision on the PAVE 100 AIDS vaccine trial. The call will take place Monday, July 28, from 11AM to noon US Eastern Time (8-9AM US Pacific; 10-11AM Peru; 4-5PM London; 5-6PM South Africa and much of Europe; 7-8PM Kenya and Uganda; for other times, click title ).
Monday's call will provide advocates and civil society groups an opportunity to get more information about the PAVE 100 trial decision and the future of the Vaccine Research Center's vaccine strategy, originally scheduled to be tested in the PAVE 100 trial. Dr. Carl Dieffenbach, Director of the Division of AIDS at NIH's National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, will join us on this call. There will be ample time for questions, so we do hope that you will join us.
For background on the PAVE 100 trial, related discussions, and statements regarding last week's decision, please visit www.avac.org/pave.htm.
If you are based outside of the United States and need to be called in order to participate, please email your request to avac@avac.org and include your full name, phone number and country. If you can't join the call, a recording of the call will be made available through our website. We look forward to speaking with you next week!
This video features interviews with several reporters and a policy analyst who share their views on the unique challenges of reporting on HIV/AIDS. Four journalists: John Donnelly, Czerne Reid, Renata Simone and Brenda Wilson share their experiences covering HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and around the world. They, along with Kaiser Vice President and Director for HIV Policy, Jen Kates, offer guidance about issues ranging from understanding data to considering the sensitivities of reporting on someone who is HIV-positive. They were interviewed by Kaiser's Jackie Judd, vice president and senior advisor for communications. Journalists interested in more information can also refer to the Foundation's Reporting ...(continued)
Taboos about sex in Pakistan make it difficult to address HIV/AIDS and are hindering efforts to curb the spread of the disease, according to a study published recently in the Lancet Infectious Diseases, the New York Times reports. According to the study, seven times as many men as women are reported to be living with HIV in Pakistan, and UNAIDS says that at least 85,000 people are HIV-positive in the country. The study, conducted by researchers from two universities in Pakistan, says that although India and Bangladesh have similarly conservative Muslim cultures, those two countries have more openly addressed HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
Zimbabwean reporter, Mr. Hopewell Rugoho-Chin'ono of Television International, received the 2008 Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Reporting in Africa -- and was also named CNN African Journalist of the Year -- at the CNN MultiChoice African Journalism Awards Ceremony held in Accra, Ghana on July 19, 2008. Read more about Mr. Rugoho-Chin'ono and his documentary, Pain in my Heart ...(continued)
Human Rights Watch on Monday said that Iranian authorities have not disclosed why two physicians known for their work on HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment were detained last month or where they are being held, BBC News reports. The physicians, brothers Arash Alaei and Kamyar Alaei, are credited with encouraging Iranian authorities to tackle the stigma of HIV/AIDS "in a country where sex, drug abuse and the disease itself are taboo subjects," BBC News reports. HRW called on Iran to immediately release or charge the physicians, whom the group says have not had legal representation ...(continued)
The Tulsa World on Sunday examined a short documentary film about incarcerated women in Oklahoma and a peer education program that teaches them about HIV prevention and other social issues. The Tulsa Community AIDS Partnership recently hosted an event featuring the film and a panel discussion about HIV among the state's female prison population ...(continued)
ORWH ANNOUNCES NEW DEPUTY DIRECTOR: The Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH), National Institutes of Health (NIH) is pleased to announce the appointment of Janine Austin Clayton, M.D. as the new Deputy Director of ORWH.
Dr. Clayton will provide scientific and technical leadership and direction to the programs of ORWH related to women's health and career development for the NIH. She will assist the ORWH Director in administration of research programs, policies on inclusion of women and minorities in clinical research and coordination of other programmatic initiatives across the NIH.
Prior to joining ORWH, Dr. Clayton was the Deputy Clinical Director at the National Eye Institute (NEI), NIH. A board certified ophthalmologist and clinical investigator at NEI, she conducted research on inflammatory diseases of the eye, as well as randomized controlled trials of new therapies for immune-related eye diseases. For many years she also provided medical and surgical fellowship training at NEI with a particular interest in ocular surface disease, cataract surgery in uveitis (ocular inflammatory diseases), and pediatric uveitis. She will continue several focused clinical research activities at NEI.
"I am honored to have this opportunity to help lead women's health research efforts at NIH and to work with such an accomplished trailblazer as Dr. Pinn. Sex and gender factors are critical aspects of health and disease; in fact most of the eye diseases I've studied are more common in women." Dr. Clayton observed, "I've been privileged to play a role in a wide variety of research and career efforts at NIH over the years. I am particularly excited about the clinical implications of evolving research on women's health including those which address populations with disparate health status."
"The many facets of Dr. Clayton's expertise and accomplishments, including the conduct of research, clinical care, leadership in career development and organizational programs, and her diverse community experiences will bring exciting, new and valuable dimensions to the ORWH," stated Dr. Vivian W. Pinn, M.D., Director of the ORWH.
A native Washingtonian, Dr. Clayton received her undergraduate degree with Honors from the Johns Hopkins University and her M.D. from Howard University College of Medicine. She completed a residency in ophthalmology at the Medical College of Virginia and fellowship training in both Cornea and External Diseases at the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University and in Uveitis and Ocular Immunology at the Laboratory of Immunology of NEI. Recognized as a leader by her peers, Dr. Clayton has received the Senior Achievement Award from the Board of Trustees of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, was elected to represent her colleagues in the prestigious international Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology and serves on editorial boards for several journals. Dr. Clayton is the author of over sixty scientific papers, research articles and book chapters and has utilized her clinical research and laboratory training as a researcher invested in a translational approach to science.
The ORWH was established to serve as the focal point in the Office of the Director for women's health research at the NIH. ORWH's mission is to strengthen and enhance women's health research and sex/gender studies, ensure that women are appropriately represented in biomedical and biobehavioral research studies supported by NIH, and develop opportunities for the advancement of women in biomedical careers and to support career development for women and men in women's health research.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- The Nation's Medical Research Agency -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit .
Millions of Americans live with the hepatitis C virus (HCV). There may be someone in your workplace who has HCV. You cannot tell by looking at someone if he or she has this virus ...(continued)
Current study results from the report, 'HBV and HCV infection in Japanese dental care workers,' have been published. "Protective measures against occupational exposure to the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) must be taken in order to prevent infection in dental care workers. To determine the best way to protect these workers, our study examined viral hepatitis infection in dental care workers in regions with a high prevalence of HCV infections in Japan," scientists in Kurume, Japan report ...(continued)
HONOLULU -- Hawaii tattoo artists and body piercers are seeking stronger laws to reduce the risk of spreading hepatitis or HIV through dirty needles. They met with lawmakers Monday to discuss updating the 27-year-old licensing exam, which doesn't even mention hepatitis, regulating body piercing for the first time and allowing traditional Hawaiian tattooing ...(continued)
Should pregnant women with chronic hepatitis B with detectable viral load be treated with antiviral agents during pregnancy to decrease the risk for transmission to the baby? ...(continued)
This is an update regarding the release of patient files to citizens who have been affected by the GastroenterologyCenter of Southern Nevada, EndoscopyCenter of Southern Nevada, DesertShadowEndoscopyCenter, and GastroenterologyCenter of Nevada ...(continued)
ILJIBERI Theatre Company visited Inverell East Bowling Club as part of NAIDOC Week with many local residents enjoying the comedic and informative play Chopped Liver. Chopped Liver was commissioned by the Victorian Health Department to educate indigenous people about living with Hepatitis C in a fun and poignant way ...(continued)
Delegates from Central Asian countries, United Nations agencies and aid groups recently met in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to discuss methods of preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission and supporting pediatric HIV/AIDS care in the region, Kazakhstan's Kazinform reports. According to Kazinform, HIV/AIDS in Central Asia is on the rise, partly because of cases of MTCT in hospitals, primarily in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan ...(continued)
Today the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced that it would not move ahead with the proposed PAVE 100 trial of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) prime-boost AIDS vaccine candidate, but that it would consider a smaller trial of the same strategy. This update contains a link to AVAC's response to this statement and to additional resources for advocates to understand the context for the decision. From AVAC's perspective, it is essential that NIAID clarify and engage in public debate around what a smaller evaluation of the VRC strategy might entail. It's not clear from the NIAID statement what such a trial might look like and when it might be discussed. AVAC will provide additional information and forums for community discussion in the weeks and months to come. We are planning a civil society conference call for early next week. We will send out details as soon as they are available. This decision cannot be seen as a vote of no confidence in the AIDS vaccine endeavor. The past several months of debate around the direction of the AIDS vaccine field have been difficult ones. There are genuine scientific questions about the best way forward. But there is also ongoing work in basic and preclinical science that aims to help figure out what to do next--and there's strong consensus from leaders in the field that additional studies in humans will provide valuable information and must be a part of the continued search. At the same time, we must recognize that the search for an AIDS vaccine is a long journey and that there are immediate prevention crises that require redoubled attention. Expanded resources and commitment from NIAID, CDC and other US stakeholders are needed to address rising rates of HIV in gay men and other men who have sex with men--the populations that would have been targeted for PAVE 100. For background information on the trial and continuing coverage of the PAVE 100 decision, click title.
A panel of experts with backgrounds in advocacy, policy, research and on-the-ground programs will combine their unique perspectives to discuss how sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning, can strengthen and complement HIV prevention efforts. Special emphasis will be given to the importance of services that address the sexual and reproductive health needs of those living with HIV.
The satellite session is titled "Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of People Living with HIV: Critical to Human Rights and HIV Prevention" and will take place on Sunday, August 3, from 15:45 to 17:45 in Room SBR 5 at the Centro Banamex in Mexico City. It will include the following panelists:
* Heather Boonstra, Guttmacher Institute
* Morolake Odetoyinbo, Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+)
* Rose Wilcher, Family Health International
* Anna Miller, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The speakers will draw on their personal and their organizations’ experience and expertise to address the varied benefits of, and challenges to, integration. Four short presentations, followed by a Q&A session, will include the following highlights:
Heather Boonstra will provide an overview of the issue of integration. She will discuss the existing global consensus in support of integration and the hurdles that attempts to implement programs have nevertheless encountered, including ideological opposition from influential U.S. social conservatives. She will also provide an update on global advocacy efforts and how the issue of integration fared during the renewal of the U.S. global AIDS program, PEPFAR.
Morolake Odetoyinbo will talk about the sexual and reproductive health needs and aspirations of people living with HIV—drawing on personal experience and evidence of what services HIV-positive men and women say they want and need, which range from sexual health information and counseling to prenatal care to ensure healthy pregnancy, contraceptive services to prevent unwanted pregnancy and safe abortion services, when needed.
Rose Wilcher will highlight the right of women to freely decide the number and spacing of their children and will discuss the evidence on how meeting the contraceptive needs of HIV-positive women is essential to global HIV prevention efforts. She will also discuss the logistical and country-level challenges to integration.
Anna Miller will discuss efforts to integrate sexual and reproductive health services into programs to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, with a special focus on ensuring that women have healthy pregnancies and healthy babies and are provided with the family planning services they need and want. Click title for more information.
Developing countries should pass HIV/AIDS policies that respect human rights and encourage people at risk of HIV to be tested for the virus and receive treatment if necessary, Australian High Court Judge Michael Kirby said Tuesday at the International Criminal Law Reform Conference in Dublin, Ireland, the Canberra Times reports ...(continued)
The Democratic Republic of Congo will begin providing no-cost malaria drugs to children younger than age 15 and pregnant women, Health Minister Emilienne Raoul announced Tuesday, BBC News reports. The country also will provide no-cost HIV tests to children through the campaign, Raoul said (BBC News, 7/16) ...(continued)
Menlo Park, CA and Geneva, Switzerland - The International AIDS Society (IAS) and the Kaiser Family Foundation will provide worldwide online access to the XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008) taking place in Mexico City, Mexico, 3-8 August 2008. Kaiser -- an independent operating foundation based in Menlo Park, Calif., USA -- will be the Official Webcaster for AIDS 2008, providing daily coverage of conference developments on kaisernetwork.org, a free, online health news, information and webcasting service operated by the Foundation. Coverage will be available by clicking title.
A group of women at a recent workshop organized by the Cameroon Grassroots Women Educational, Economic and Social Advancement network resolved to address issues such as HIV/AIDS, reproductive and family health, and other women's rights issues, Cameroon's The Post reports. According to the Post, the approximately 60 women who attended the workshop also called for an end to rape and all forms of sexual exploitation, as well as trafficking of women and children ...(continued)
Pakistan is experiencing an increase in HIV/AIDS cases, with 90,000 people, or 0.1% of the population, between ages 20 and 45 testing positive for the disease, India's Daily News and Analysis reports. In addition, a large number of women are living with the disease in the country ...(continued)
Counseling about sexual behavior during drug addiction treatment could help reduce unsafe sexual behavior among people at risk of HIV in Russia, according to a study recently published in the journal Addiction, ANI/New Kerala reports. According to ANI/New Kerala, the researchers focused on "substance-dependent" individuals in Russia because alcohol use is highly pervasive in the country, and it has been linked with risky sexual behavior ...(continued)
Old Order Amish and Mennonites in Lancaster County, Pa., "suffer from endemic proportions of certain deadly genetic diseases" because they do not marry outside their communities, and, as they "seek lifesaving treatments, the uninsured in these Pennsylvania communities are struggling with escalating costs of care" at not-for-profit hospitals, the Wall Street Journal reports. According to the Journal, the issue raises "tough questions for the U.S. health care system" and not-for-profit hospitals, "which are expected to provide charity care in exchange for tax breaks" ...(continued)
Israeli officials recently said they will continue allowing condoms into the Gaza Strip despite the imposed blockade on the region, IRIN/PlusNews reports. The officials said the decision is part of efforts by United Nations agencies and Palestinian organizations to maintain programs for family planning and the prevention of diseases, including as HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has created a toolkit that aims to educate young women worldwide about the disease, South Africa's The Star reports. The international launch of the toolkit was held on Thursday at the association's conference in Boksburg, South Africa. The toolkit was created based on the experiences of association members addressing HIV/AIDS issues in Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi and Peru. "We wanted to develop teaching methods which would get the message to young women that they are at risk" of the disease, association CEO Mary McPhail said, adding, "We wanted to get across that they can also be responsible for empowering their own lives and making their own decisions." According to McPhail, the toolkit's format will enable young women to have conversations about HIV/AIDS in their communities and with their partners ...(continued)
Dear Friends & Colleagues of the Harm Reduction Coalition,
We are pleased to inform you that the New York Harm Reduction Coalition Summer 2008 Training Calendar is now available online! Click title to view the calendar on our website. To download the registration form, click here. All trainings take place at the Harm Reduction Coalition, 22 W. 27th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10001. Please register at your earliest convenience as space is limited. Contact us at 212.683.2334 with any questions regarding our trainings. Please also visit www.harmreduction.org for more about HRC, current news in the field of harm reduction, information on the 7th National Harm Reduction Conference in Miami, and much more! We look forward to seeing you!
Minorities and rural residents in Maryland are underrepresented in cancer clinical trials and blacks' rate of participation is dropping, according to a study published in the July issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, the Baltimore Sun reports. For the study, lead author Claudia Baquet, a professor of medicine and director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health Disparities Research and Outreach, and colleagues examined 2,240 Maryland cancer patients who participated in National Cancer Institute clinical trials from 1999 to 2002 ...(continued)
The AP/Clarksville Leaf Chronicle recently featured an effort by the Nashville, Tenn., Metro Health Department that aims to "harness the power and influence of black churches to slow the spread of HIV" in the community. About 27% of Nashville's population is black and the group makes up 55% of HIV/AIDS cases, according to the AP/Chronicle ...(continued)
Research has found that although blacks "suffer from kidney disease at higher rates than whites, they are less likely to be referred for transplants, less likely to be placed on a waiting list and less likely to get kidneys once on the list," the Chicago Tribune reports. Kidney transplants are the recommended treatment for kidney failure, but there is a "glaring racial disparity in which many black kidney patients remain on dialysis," which is "associated with lower quality of life and higher death rates," the Tribune reports. Thirty-seven percent of people receiving dialysis are black but they comprise 19% of the transplant population, according to data from the United States Renal Data System ...(continued)
The Los Angeles Times on Sunday examined efforts within the black community to address HIV/AIDS. According to the Times, a "growing number of [black] celebrities and leaders" are joining up with local activists, who "have worked for decades to draw attention to the toll of HIV in the black community" ...(continued)
"The health of Gaza's 1.5 million people is at risk," Mahmoud Daher, from the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) told IPS following a report released by WHO after it carried out a number of tests on Gaza's contaminated water. On the ground Israel's closure has translated into a lack of fuel, electricity and spare parts needed to operate wastewater and sewerage treatment plants. Consequently Gaza's water and sanitation systems are near complete collapse as the power required to run treatment and desalination plants, pump water to homes, and pump sewage away from populated areas is only available on a very limited basis ...(continued)
New HIV/AIDS diagnoses among adults ages 50 and older in Georgia has nearly doubled in the last 10 years, according to recent data from the state Department of Human Resources' Division of Public Health, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. Georgia recorded 341 new cases of HIV/AIDS in 2007 among people ages 50 and older, compared with 189 cases reported in 1998, according to the Journal-Constitution ...(continued)
The Minneapolis Star Tribune on Sunday profiled Sexpulse, a Web site in development at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health that is the latest strategy to curb a "second wave" of HIV/AIDS cases among young men who have sex with men. According to a recent report published Thursday in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the number of new HIV diagnoses recorded between 2001 and 2006 among men who have sex with men ages 13 to 24 increased by 12.4% annually ...(continued)
Product RED on Monday announced that it is launching a digital music service that will give half of the money collected from a $5 per month user fee to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the New York Times reports. The other half of the monthly fees will go to artists who contribute songs and their record companies ...(continued)
State and local education agencies should continue to encourage schools to provide health education on HIV prevention topics as part of a coordinated school health program. They also should work to increase the percent of health education teachers who teach HIV prevention topics and who receive staff development on how to teach knowledge and skills related to HIV prevention. Schools without a current policy on students and/or staff who have HIV infection or AIDS should work with education, public health, and legal professionals to develop and implement HIV-related policies. In 2006, most secondary schools in states and school districts participating in a CDC-sponsored survey provided some education on HIV prevention topics in required health education courses. However, few secondary schools taught all 11 topics related to HIV
prevention listed in the questionnaire. Teaching these topics is important to help reduce the prevalence of HIV-related risk behaviors. In addition, having a school health policy on students and/or staff who have HIV infection or AIDS can help protect the rights and health of HIV-infected students and staff and reduce the likelihood of transmitting HIV infection to others. In 2006, approximately half of all secondary schools had such a policy.
~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 06/31/2008
A survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) research consortium found that the United States had among the highest lifetime rates of tobacco and alcohol use and led in the proportion of participants reporting cannabis (marijuana) or cocaine use at least once during their lifetime. The study, led by Dr. Louisa Degenhardt of the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia and colleagues, looked at patterns in the use of alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and cocaine in 17 countries representing all six WHO regions (the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Oceania). The study, funded in part by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is published in the July 1, 2008 issue of the open access journal "PLoS Medicine" ...(continued)
CDC's recently released HIV/AIDS data, which show an overall increase in new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men, is a "reminder that the work of keeping people HIV-negative and getting those who are HIV-positive into treatment is never done," a Washington Post editorial states ...(continued)
Inadequate funding to the annual budget for the Indian Health Service's Contract Health Service program is restricting access to essential health care services for American Indian patients, lawmakers and witnesses said on Thursday at a Senate Committee on Indian Affairs hearing, CQ HealthBeat reports. The CHS program purchases health care services from non-IHS providers for IHS beneficiaries when care from an IHS facility is not available. Committee Chair Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and witnesses, which included state health care administrators and tribal health care officials, said the current budget of $579 million for the CHS program should be more than doubled to $1.3 billion. Dorgan said, "We must fully fund, we must adequately fund and we must make Contract Health Service work" ...(continued)
Communities across the nation on Friday will promote and offer no-cost HIV screenings to mark National HIV Testing Day, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (Torbati, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 6/26). The 14th annual event was launched in 1995 by the National Association of People with AIDS in an effort to encourage people to become aware of their HIV status (National Minority AIDS Council release, 6/27). Blacks, Hispanics and men who have sex with men are disproportionately affected by the virus, according to the Contra Costa Times. Blacks account for almost half and Hispanics account for about 20% of AIDS cases diagnosed in the U.S., the Times reports (Bohan, Contra Costa Times, 6/26). Black women are diagnosed with AIDS at more than 20 the rate of white women, according to CDC data (Lowe, Oakland Tribune, 6/19) ...(continued)
A CDC analysis of HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men (MSM) indicates troubling signs of increases in new diagnoses among young MSM aged 13-24 and underscores the significant impact of the disease among young MSM, especially young black MSM. The study analyzed data on new HIV diagnoses from 2001 through 2006 in 33 states with confidential, long-standing name-based HIV reporting. A 12 percent annual increase in diagnoses was seen among young MSM, with increases across all racial/ethnic groups except for American Indians/Alaskan Natives, and especially concerning increases among young black MSM (15 percent annual increase, compared to 9 percent and 8 percent among their white and
Hispanic counterparts, respectively). While HIV diagnosis data do not necessarily reflect trends in new HIV infections overall, diagnoses among young MSM represent relatively recent infections. These data, combined with prior analyses of testing trends in this population, suggest that new infections are likely increasing among young MSM. Additionally, approximately twice as many diagnoses occurred among young black MSM as their white counterparts. These data underscore the need for expanded access to HIV prevention among young MSM, especially young black MSM.
~Department of Health and Human Services - 06/26/2008
New York, NY - Today, Hip-hop artist and actor Common and his Common Ground Foundation, in collaboration with the Kaiser Family Foundation and MTV, with support from Youth Speaks, announced today that 18-year old recent high school graduate, Jose Rivera from Ewing, Nebraska, was the winner of the A Minute lyrics contest to encourage young people to get tested for HIV. Rivera’s lyrics touting the importance of knowing one’s HIV status bested more that 2,400 other entries submitted by young people throughout the U.S. The contest was developed as part of Kaiser and MTV’s long-standing public information partnership on HIV and related issues, called It’s Your (Sex) Life.
Jose’s lyrics will be performed by Common in a one minute video performance that will premiere today on MTV’s TRL (Total Request Live) in the lead up to National HIV Testing Day (June 27) and will air throughout the summer on MTV2 and mtvU, MTV’s college network, as well as be available on demand at www.itsyoursexlife.com. Also featured on www.itsyoursexlife.com and www.aminutecontest.com will be a blog by Rivera, photos and video from the PSA shoot with Common, and the lyrics from the 10 finalists. To learn more about Jose visit his profile.
“It’s important to know your status by getting tested because HIV/AIDS is taking a lot of lives in our community and around the world. I had an uncle succumb to HIV, so I’ve personally felt the impact of the disease,” said Grammy Award winning artist Common. “Your lyrics can really have an affect on people’s lives and I’ve seen it happen.”
By combining the talent and popular appeal of an artist of the standing of Common with the voice of a young person, like Jose, we hope to convey the importance of HIV testing in a way that resonates with other youth,” said Tina Hoff, Vice President and Director, Entertainment Media Partnerships, Kaiser Family Foundation.
“This contest offered a great opportunity for our audience to use Think MTV as a loudspeaker for the issues that affect them most,” said Ian Rowe, VP of Public Affairs and Strategic Partnership, MTV. “Protection against HIV/AIDS as well as protecting their sexual health overall, continues to be of concern to our audience, and we are proud to have worked with Kaiser and Common to give voice to such meaningful lyrics to help break the stigma associated with HIV testing.”
Jose recently graduated from high school and is looking forward to attending Northeast Community College in Nebraska this fall where he will be studying automobile technology. He hopes to open his own auto body shop with his brother someday. Jose entered the contest to convey the importance of knowing one’s status. And as an aspiring writer the contest presented a unique opportunity to potentially work with Common an accomplished lyricist. To learn more about Jose visit his profile.
“It’s amazing to hear my words spoken by Common. Hopefully, together we’re able to get people thinking and persuade them to take a minute and get tested,” said Jose Rivera, A Minute contest winner.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately one in four of the people living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. do not know they are infected. Research shows that once people learn they are HIV-positive, many take steps to protect their partners and reduce the risk of HIV transmission. And early knowledge of HIV infection is critical for connecting people to needed medical care and services. As of 2007, the CDC also recommends routine HIV screening for all adults and adolescents (ages 13-64) in the U.S. Information about local HIV testing centers can be found online or by texting your zip Code to KNOWIT (566948) from most mobile phones.
“Spoken Word and Hip-Hop are this generation's primary communication tool. Using their own voices, today's youth are able to communicate to each other directly on issues critical to us all. Jose's poem is a great example of this in action,” said James Kass, Founder and Executive Director of Youth Speaks.
The A Minute contest was designed to engage young people by involving them directly in the creation of a PSA. The intent was to facilitate conversations by contest participants with their peers to help spread awareness about HIV and HIV testing, while attracting compelling lyrics that would resonate particularly well with young people.
MTV and the Kaiser Family Foundation’s over 10 year Emmy and Peabody Award-winning partnership – It’s Your (Sex) Life -- has reached more than 100 million viewers on-air, yielded more than 1.2 million calls to the campaign’s toll-free hotline (1-877-777-IYSL), and put informational guides in the hands of more than 450,000 young people. The backbone of the campaign is www.itsyoursexlife.com, a comprehensive online destination housed within Think.MTV.com, an online community where young people, their friends and some of the biggest names in pop culture come together to effect positive social change.
The Think Community is dynamic, multimedia-driven and enables youth to easily learn more about the issues that matter to them most, share their opinions by uploading videos, podcasts and blogs, and connect with others to make a difference. The site is one of the only to reward members for positive actions taken online or off, serving up chances to hang out with socially conscious celebs, access to exclusive MTV events, exposure on MTV and other national media outlets, as well as grants, scholarships and more. Think.MTV.com was built with the help of financial support and expertise from founding partners the Case Foundation, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Goldhirsh Foundation and MCJ Amelior Foundation. For more information or to build a profile and become involved, visit Think.MTV.com.
The Latino Commission on AIDS in conjunction with other Hispanic AIDS activists and health officials across the nation on Tuesday released a list of recommendations for federal policies aimed at addressing high HIV/AIDS rates in the Hispanic community, the Bergen Record reports. Hispanics, who represent 15% of the U.S. population, account for 25% of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses and 19% of people living with HIV/AIDS, according to the commission (Llorente, Bergen Record, 6/24) ...(continued)
The "argument for notifying school nurses and superintendants when a student tests positive for HIV is that they need to be able to send students who come into contact" with HIV-positive students' blood "to the hospital for immediate treatment," a Columbia State editorial says. This current policy "might make sense if" the state's "notification system were foolproof, or even close to it," the editorial says, adding, "It's not. It only works if an HIV-positive student has been tested." According to the editorial, some "students refuse to get tested because of the notification law," and people can live with the virus "for years before they suspect it" (Columbia State, 6/25) ...(continued)
This update contains information on the upcoming International AIDS Conference and a link to AVAC's HIV Prevention Research Roadmap that details the range of related events and sessions at the conference. There is also a link to a satellite meeting we are organizing. The International AIDS Conference is held every two years, and in 2008 will take place in México City, 3-8 August, and brings together nearly 25,000 activists, researchers, policymakers and government officials. The 2008 conference has a program that includes many satellites, special sessions, abstracts and skills building workshops on a range of topics, including HIV prevention research and advocacy. AVAC has begun to compile a list of HIV prevention research-related events, forming the basis of its HIV Prevention Research Roadmap. The roadmap is a work in progress and will continually be updated in the days and weeks leading up to the conference. Are you planning a related event that we haven't included? If so, please let us know at avac@avac.org, and we'll add it to the roadmap. To download the roadmap, in both its full and abridged formats, please visit www.avac.org/IAC2008.htm. Among the events that AVAC is participating in, we are hosting Expecting (and managing) the unexpected: Reality check for PrEP and other new prevention options on Sunday, 3 August from 3.45pm to 5.45pm. This open forum and moderated discussion will provide an update on the status of PrEP research and engage advocates, researchers and policy makers in an interactive format, highlighting the challenges of translating research into effective policy and practice. A description of the satellite is available by clicking title. Stay tuned for more updates on the conference as the opening draws closer, and we hope to see many of you in México!
www.BeOneCity.com is a new website for gay guys everywhere living with HIV so we can meet as friends or to date, to get support from one another and to get all the information they need for living well with HIV. The site has a free personals
area where people can connect, chat, date, blog, etc., to encourage a sense of openness and create a forum where people can be honest and express themselves freely. It includes state-of-the-art-features like Instant Messaging, webcamming, Chat Rooms, Video Blogs and E-Mail. AEGIS will receive a $3 donation for every new member who becomes a BeOneCity member. If you have any friends who are gay and HIV positive, ask them to sign up too using the code "AEGIS". Why is this important? Because the money AEGIS receives helps the organization continue to provide it's important service to people who need it. Click title to see the website.
India's National AIDS Control Board earlier this month gave the National AIDS Control Organisation approval to build care centers for children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS in the country, the Times of India reports. According to the Times, NACO plans to initially build 10 centers in the high HIV prevalence states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur and Tamil Nadu ...(continued)
The Interaction in Development Foundation and the United Kingdom-based nongovernmental organization Pogressio in coordination with a local religious council in Sana'a, Yemen, recently held a three-day workshop for 25 Muslim religious leaders and health guides aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS-associated stigma and discrimination, the Yemen Observer reports ...(continued)
Hundreds of thousands of low-income U.S. residents in inner cities, the Mississippi Delta, Appalachia, areas near the Mexico border and tribal reservations remain undiagnosed and untreated for diseases that are prevalent in Africa, Asia and Latin America, according to an analysis published on Monday in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, the New York Times reports (McNeil, New York Times, 6/24). The analysis, conducted by Peter Hotez of the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases and titled "Neglected Infections of Poverty in the United States," found that residents in those areas are more likely to have mental retardation, heart disease and epilepsy, among other conditions, caused by untreated tropical and other infectious diseases. These diseases primarily affect women and children in those areas, according to the analysis (Sternberg, USA Today, 6/24). The diseases include Chagas, cysticercosis and worm diseases, as well as dengue fever, syphilis and cytomegalovirus (New York Times, 6/24) ...(continued)
Black America's response to the AIDS crisis is finally gaining momentum. More Black people than ever before know someone with HIV/AIDS and/or are talking about it. In light of this progress, it is tempting to think that the AIDS epidemic in our community is under control. But this is no time to be complacent. Black people are still being diagnosed, progressing to AIDS and dying from the disease more often than any other racial group in America. To be fair, the progress we've made against AIDS is remarkable. High-profile community members ranging from Oprah to Obama have taken HIV tests in front of the television cameras in a bid to encourage other Black Americans to get tested. And just last month, many of our community leaders came together with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta to plan the next phase of the “Heightened National Response to the HIV Crisis among African Americans,” which is spawning innovative HIV prevention campaigns across the United States ...(continued)
Irish musicians and development advocates Bono and Bob Geldof on Wednesday criticized the Group of Eight industrialized nations for falling behind on their aid pledges to Africa, AFP/Google.com reports. Bono and Geldof also urged France, the next European Union president, to end the "disgrace." The two advocates, who were joined by tennis player Yannick Noah and singer Angelique Kidjo, also said that a 2005 G8 pledge to deliver increased aid to Africa by 2010 is currently only 14% fulfilled ...(continued)
Rwandan first lady Jeannette Kagame last week at the United Nations in New York hosted a roundtable discussion about HIV/AIDS vaccine research and development, Rwanda's New Times reports. Kagame, who also serves as the high representative for the African AIDS Vaccine Programme, said that the "recent setbacks in HIV vaccine trials should not discourage our efforts." She added that a "preventive vaccine is the only long-term sustainable solution to combating HIV." Participants in the roundtable discussion included Seth Berkley, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative; Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise; Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization; and Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS ...(continued)
Screening for HIV/AIDS among people ages 55 and older is worthwhile in terms of the potential savings in health care costs and the years of life gained from early detection, according to a study published Tuesday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, Reuters Health reports. CDC guidelines recommend routine HIV screening for people between ages 13 and 64 ...(continued)
Also in the May 2008 American Journal of Gastroenterology, S.M. Kamal presented a systematic review of acute hepatitis C, or the first six months after infection. About 25% of people with acute HCV infection spontaneously clear the virus without treatment, while the rest go on to develop chronic infection. A MEDLINE medical literature search of prior studies revealed no consistent, reliable predictors of spontaneous HCV clearance ...(continued)
Pregnant women should be routinely tested for hepatitis C during their clinic visits, according to a study carried out in Dublin's Rotunda, Mater and Temple Street hospitals. Currently, only women with risk factors, such as a history of injecting drugs, are tested. However, over the final six months of last year doctors in the Rotunda asked all women booking their antenatal visits to be tested for hepatitis C ...(continued)
Dixie contracted hepatitis C from a blood transfusion during surgery years ago. She had no symptoms and, if it weren't for a routine blood test, Dixie wouldn't have known she had the disorder. She certainly wouldn't have known she had chronic liver disease that is treatable. The test made Dixie aware that she had a condition contagious to others and that could potentially shorten her life. So she decided to act ...(continued)
A FATHER-of-three suffering from terminal liver cancer died from natural causes, despite being prescribed the wrong drug. An inquest yesterday heard that plasterer Alan Clark from Prestatyn was mistakenly given the antidepressant drug Sertraline by a pharmacist last September instead of Spironolactone, which is used to treat water retention ...(continued)
Jamaica will develop a tuberculosis testing facility at its National Public Health Laboratory because of the increasing number of HIV-positive people in the country who develop TB, Kevin Harvey, senior medical officer at the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Program at the Ministry of Health and Environment, said recently, the Jamaica Gleaner reports. TB test samples currently are sent to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Trinidad and Tobago ...(continued)
As Congress embarks on the process of reauthorizing the U.S. program to fight HIV and AIDS, and as other global donors recalibrate levels and allocations of funding for HIV/AIDS programs, prevention seems to be making a comeback. At the inception of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) five years ago, both the funding and the programmatic emphasis tilted heavily toward treatment.Yet, the rate of new HIV infection continues to outpace the world’s ability to deliver antiretroviral therapy, despite recent advances in access to such medications. A public health consensus is emerging, therefore, in favor of realigning the balance between treatment and prevention efforts ...(continued)
In a petition generated by MoveOn.org recently presented to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), advocates asked him to override seven Republican senators, led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who are blocking a vote on measures (HR 5501, S 2731) aimed at reauthorizing the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, CQ Today reports. More than 15,000 people have signed the petition, according to CQ Today (Graham-Silverman, CQ Today, 6/13) ...(continued)
More than half of the AIDS-related deaths that occurred in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2005 were missed by the city's system for reporting such deaths, according to an analysis by the district's Department of Health and CDC that was published recently in CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Washington Post reports. The underreporting of AIDS-related deaths suggests that the epidemic "may be taking a far greater toll" on the district than health officials had originally thought, according to the Post ...(continued)
The sponsors of a South Carolina bill that would modify regulations concerning HIV-positive students in the state have said that they will attempt to override a recent veto by Gov. Mark Sanford (R) when the General Assembly meets later this month, the Columbia State reports (Smith, Columbia State, 6/13) ...(continued)
Children who lose one or both parents to HIV/AIDS are unlikely to remain in school and finish their education, Robert Greener, senior economic adviser at the United Nations Development Programme, said at the World Bank's Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics in South Africa recently, the Inter Press Service reports ...(continued)
A couple in Cornwall married at a wedding with a hepatitis C theme. How a killer disease brought two people together: Seventy guests file out from the wedding of Chrissy Davis and John Semple at Truro's register office, Cornwall. As they gather for photographs it is obvious that many of the guests are not a picture of health: some are gaunt; some have yellow complexions; and about a dozen have some hair missing. This is because 60 of them have hepatitis C. They have poorly functioning livers and are on treatments that can cause hair loss ...(continued)
This year’s EASL (European Association for the Study of Liver Disease) conference was held in Milan, Italy. EASL is becoming one of the premiere liver disease conferences and is comparable in its scope and importance to the AASLD (American Association for the Study of Liver Disease) Conference held in the United States. This article will review the data presented on HCV drugs being developed to treat hepatitis C ...(continued)
The Digestive Disease Week Conference was held in San Diego, CA on May 17th to 22nd, 2008. This year one of the largest and most important studies was released: “Virological Responses to Peginterferon Alfa-2A/Ribavirin in Treatment-Naïve Latino vs. Non-Latino Whites Infected with HCV Genotype 1: The Latino Study, by Rodriguez-Torres and colleagues ...(continued)
Many people feel that there must be a certain procedure or ritual to follow when leaving work on disability, but that’s not really the case. There are as many different ways to do it as there are employers and employees. It will vary based on the type of work you do and the type of company you work for as well as your own personal feelings about work and your co-workers ...(continued)
DRIVING down the number of circulating copies of the hepatitis C virus to undetectable levels in the earliest stages of infection makes it highly likely that the patient will eventually be cured - even among patients who are also infected with HIV. The findings, the interim results from an Australian study presented to a recent international conference in Italy, suggest that rapid virological response - or RVR, the term used to indicate successful suppression of viral load within four weeks of starting treatment - is just as good a predictor of eventual cure among patients suffering acute hepatitis C infection as it is already known to be among chronically infected individuals ...(continued)
An increased number of people are finding out they have Hepatitis C and they're turning to the Beaufort Communicable Disease Clinic for support and treatment. Hep C support nurse Fran Falconer had treated 700 people since 2001 and has a treatment case load of about 30 to 50 patients on constant rotation ...(continued)
Patients who have chronic hepatitis C with advanced fibrosis have twice the risk of developing liver cancer if they also have diabetes. These findings are published in the June issue of Hepatology, a journal published by John Wiley & Sons on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) ...(continued)
UCLA Medical Center and its most accomplished liver surgeon provided a life-saving transplant to one of Japan's most powerful gang bosses, law enforcement sources told The Times. In addition, the surgeon performed liver transplants at UCLA on three other men who are now barred from entering the United States because of their criminal records or suspected affiliation with Japanese organized crime groups, said a knowledgeable law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity ...(continued)
About 400 children from eight Indian states gathered Wednesday at a workshop to discuss their experiences as peer educators in a joint UNICEF-National AIDS Control Organization pilot project that aims to increase HIV awareness among children and youth, the Times of India reports. The groups launched the project in 400 villages based on their HIV prevalence in 22 rural districts and three urban districts to determine the effectiveness of children and youth raising awareness about HIV/AIDS among their peers ...(continued)
Attached is the May/June 2008 issue of NeedyMeds' bi-monthly Patient Advocate News. We are excited at the response we've received for our newest NeedyMeds feature, the NeedyMeds Forums. We have more than 370 registered members, and there is always room for more. If you haven't yet registered for this free, online community forum and would like to communicate with fellow advocates like yourself, go to http://forums.needymeds.com and click on "register" in the upper-left side of the page. Keep in mind this forum is for patient advocates — not individual patients — only, so please don't register if you're not affiliated with some kind of advocacy organization, health clinic, hospital, social services agency or community organization that helps underserved populations with the costs of healthcare.
We hope you have a good summer, and let us know how we can continue to improve our services.
Failure to adequately address HIV/tuberculosis coinfection is "undermining" recent gains against HIV/AIDS, United Nations officials said at the first HIV/TB Global Leaders Forum at U.N. headquarters in New York, the New York Times reports. According to the officials, TB is the leading cause of death among HIV-positive people in Africa and a leading cause of death worldwide (Altman, New York Times, 6/10). U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, "This is shocking: no one should die of TB, a preventable and curable disease, in this prosperous and technology-rich 21st century" (Xinhuanet, 6/9) ...(continued)
Studies published to date provide mixed evidence on the relationship between unintended pregnancy and preterm birth, and none take into consideration that the meaning of unintended pregnancy may vary across racial and ethnic groups.
~Guttmacher Institute: Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health Volume 40, Number 2, June 2008
In an important triumph for health advocates, Congress recently lifted the ban on the use of local tax dollars for syringe exchange in Washington DC. Now is the time to end the overall federal ban on funding syringe exchange, and we need everyone's help this week.
Please join a national call-in to your Representative, asking them to demonstrate their support by signing onto a letter to House leadership. This is the first action in Congress in a decade to lift the ban, and we need to make a strong showing. The 20-year federal funding ban curtails local communities from using their prevention dollars as they see fit to support this effective intervention.
1. Dial 1-800-828-0498 to reach the Capitol switchboard and ask to be connected to your Representative's office. (Click here if you don't know your Representative.) Ask to speak to their Health staffer.
2. Use the suggested message and talking points below to tell the staffer your Representative should sign the bipartisan 'Dear Colleague' letter circulating by Representatives Cummings (D-MD) and Castle (R-DE).
3. E-mail us at champ@champnetwork.org to let us know you made your call.
Suggested message:
Local communities should decide how best to fight the spread of HIV & Hepatitis C. Syringe exchanges are proven to help reduce HIV infection and also provide important links to drug treatment. It's time to lift the federal ban on syringe exchange funding. Will Representative [Rep Name] sign the Cummings/Castle letter?
Other key talking points:
* Injection-related disease - One third of people with HIV in the United States were infected through injection drug use. Every year, another 8,000 people are newly infected with HIV through sharing contaminated syringes and another 15,000 are infected with Hepatitis C.
* These infections are preventable. In communities where access to sterile syringes is supported, transmission of HIV & Hepatitis C in injecting drug users has declined as a proportion of all cases by mode of transmission. Decreases have also been documented among the sex partners and children of injection drug users.
* Syringe Exchange programs are highly cost-effective. The lifetime cost of medical care for each new HIV infection is $385,200; the equivalent amount of money spent on syringe exchange programs would prevent at least 30 new HIV infections.
* Syringe exchange programs increase access to drug treatment & medical care. In addition to the reduced risks for disease, sterile syringe access programs facilitate greater access to drug treatment. These programs also provide a crucial entry point into medical care, detox and rehabilitation, and mental health treatment.
* Nearly 200 syringe exchange programs currently operate in 38 states, Puerto Rico, Washington DC, and Indian Lands. Most operate on a shoestring, surviving on dwindling private donations and severe restrictions of public funding.
* The medical and scientific community support syringe exchange. Studies by the Centers for Disease Control and the National Academy of Sciences show that syringe exchange programs are effective. Programs have the support of the medical community, including the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association and the American Nurses Association
* Syringe exchanges get dirty needles off the streets. Research demonstrates that the presence of a syringe exchange program results in fewer used syringes improperly discarded. In Baltimore, after an SEP was implemented, the number of inappropriately discarded syringes decreased by almost 50%. In Portland, the number of discarded syringes decreased by almost two-thirds after the NEP opened. In 1992, Connecticut repealed a law forbidding the sale of syringes without a prescription. As a result, reports show a reduction in needle sharing by 50 percent and a decrease in HIV infections by over 30 percent. In addition, law enforcement officials experienced two-thirds fewer needle stick injuries.
Please call your representative today and urge him or her to sign on to the letter! And please don't forget to report your call to us when you're done.
Once you've reported your call, please forward this message to your friends, family, and co-workers and ask them to join you in calling.
For more information, please contact the Harm Reduction Coalition.
~In solidarity, CHAMP Staff - 06/03/2008
AACBI was contacted by the Deputy Director of the National Association for People with AIDS (NAPWA) to cofacilitate a presentation on developing program policies for Community-Based Organizations providing HIV prevention services targeting
African-American women. NAPWA hosted the NHTD Training Institute in conjunction with the National African-American HIV Prevention conference that took place in Philadelphia on February 25, 2008. Dorcey Jones, CBA Specialist was assigned to this request. The workshop was well attended by women, all of African decent, with a common commitment to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS in their communities. The interactive workshop was designed to provide participants with the knowledge and skills to develop program policies, evaluate HIV prevention interventions and host a community-wide HIV testing day targeting African
American women. Click title to review full newsletter.
In many poor countries, mothers with HIV face a stark choice: to nurse their infants, and risk passing on HIV through their breast milk — or to formula feed, and deprive their infants of much of the natural immunity needed to protect against fatal diseases of early infancy. Now, two studies supported by the National Institutes of Health offer insights into preventing early death and HIV infection among breastfeeding infants of mothers with HIV in these countries. The studies were published online in the New England Journal of Medicine and will appear in the publication’s print edition on July 10 ...(continued)
Conference delegates on Tuesday at the opening of the 2008 HIV/AIDS Implementers' Meeting in Kampala, Uganda, called on countries to increase HIV prevention methods in order to fight complacency about the disease, Xinhuanet reports. Some HIV/AIDS experts speaking at the conference said that although countries have started recording lower HIV/AIDS rates, most responses do not pay enough attention to prevention ...(continued)
The East African on Monday examined how a campaign recently launched in Kenya to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis will affect health care workers in the country. The Kenyan Ministry of Health in collaboration with the National AIDS Control Council and CDC launched the campaign to bolster communication and awareness of HIV/AIDS and TB to reduce stigma and discrimination associated with the diseases ...(continued)
The Indian government plans to establish "link centers," or small antiretroviral clinics, in rural areas to address the challenges associated with accessing the drugs in isolated areas, Reuters reports. According to Reuters, long distances between clinics are hindering the country's efforts to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, particularly in rural areas ...(continued)
HRC receives funding from the New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) AIDS Institute to function as a Center of Expertise (COE) in Emerging Issues in Substance Use & Harm Reduction. As a COE, HRC offers seasonal trainings on harm reduction and substance use that are determined in collaboration with the AIDS Institute, other Regional Training Centers (RTCs) in NY, and HIV/AIDS service providers. If you are interested in having similar trainings conducted on site at your agency, please see the Consultation and Contract Training page or contact Cristy Latagan at (212) 683-2334 x17; email: latagan@harmreduction.org for further information. Click title for full details.
The Wall Street Journal on Monday examined a proposal from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to "bolster the role of high-risk pools" that market health insurance to individuals with pre-existing medical conditions. The proposal would replace a tax break for employees who receive health insurance from employers with a refundable tax credit of as much as $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families for the purchase of private coverage. In addition, the proposal would include a federally funded Guaranteed Access Plan, which would seek to establish high-risk health insurance pools to help individuals who cannot obtain private coverage because of pre-existing medical conditions or no previous group coverage ...(continued)
People with schizophrenia (http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/schizophrenia/index.shtml) from families with no history of the illness were found to harbor eight times more spontaneous mutations — most in pathways affecting brain development — than healthy controls, in a study supported in part the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). By contrast, no spontaneous mutations were found in people with schizophrenia who had family histories of the illness ...(continued)
The Barbados Parliament on Tuesday approved a plan to spend 180 million Barbados dollars, or about $90 million, over the next five years to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country, Barbados' Nation News reports. According to Minister of Community Development and Culture Steven Blackett, about 4,700 people in Barbados, or 1.7% of the population, are living with the disease (Nation News, 5/28) ...(continued)
Click title to read the June 2008 “Resource Talk” e-newsletter online. In this issue, read about an important workshop Monday, June 2, explaining what could cause 125,000 televisions in Seattle to quit working next year. Also find out valuable information about the Medicare Part D program and about the closing of Verbena Health. As always, you will also find a variety of useful and critical community information for King County, including regular critical resource updates and selected monthly resources. Click title to read.
About 2,500 delegates from 52 African countries, United Nations agencies and aid groups met Wednesday in Yokohama, Japan, for the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development to discuss strategies aimed at solving health issues, including HIV/AIDS, and other challenges on the continent, the Kyodo News reports (Tang, Kyodo News, 5/27). Delegates at the three-day meeting, themed "Toward a Vibrant Africa: A Continent of Hope and Opportunity," plan to discuss how to increase efforts to meet the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, as well as ways to boost economic growth and address climate change ...(continued)
Sri Lanka is vulnerable to a potential HIV/AIDS epidemic despite the country's relatively low HIV/AIDS prevalence, according to a recent study conducted by the Centre for Policy Studies in London, Colombo's Daily Mirror reports. According to the Mirror, UNAIDS has estimated Sri Lanka's adult HIV/AIDS prevalence at less than 0.1% ...(continued)
Twenty percent of all federal Medicare fraud prosecutions are filed in South Florida, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey said on Wednesday, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports (South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 5/29). U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta and the Department of Justice last year established the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in Miami, which comprises federal agents and prosecutors (Weaver, Miami Herald, 5/29) ...(continued)
Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.), who recently was diagnosed with brain cancer, previously had begun work on legislation that would revise the 1971 National Cancer Act, and supporters hope that the "fact that Kennedy has fallen victim to this disease will generate public support and lend new urgency to the need to update the bill," the AP/Chicago Tribune reports. An aide to Kennedy on Friday said that the senator, who has worked with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) on the legislation, plans to introduce the bill in the next few weeks. The legislation seeks to improve coordination of cancer research, prevention and treatment and increase funds for research at the National Cancer Institute and other federal agencies ...(continued)
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., the director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), today announced his intention to step down on August 1 to explore writing projects and other professional opportunities. Dr. Collins, 58, a physician-geneticist, has served as NHGRI's director since April 1993. He led the Human Genome Project (HGP) to its successful conclusion in 2003, and subsequently initiated and managed a wide range of projects that built upon the foundation laid by the sequencing of the human genome. Following the precedent set by the HGP under Dr. Collins' leadership, these projects have made their data rapidly and freely available to the worldwide scientific community. Collectively, these projects and their data have transformed biomedical research and empowered researchers all around the world ...(continued)
Mental health services: Thousands of private psychiatrists, psychologists and other mental health care professionals are offering their services at no cost to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans in an effort to offset therapist shortages at the Department of Veterans Affairs, the AP/Washington Post reports. According to Terry Jones, a Pentagon spokesperson on health issues, there are 1,431 mental health professionals in the VA system to treat 1.4 million active-duty military personnel. The AP/Post reports about 20,000 more offer their services to the VA. However, veterans' groups and health care experts say that "is not enough for a mental health crisis emerging among troops and their families," according to the AP/Post (Jelinek, AP/Washington Post, 5/25) ...(continued)
HAVANA - Nearly 50 years after the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, sexual minorities are at last beginning to feel that their voice is being heard and that they can finally take their place in the movement towards a more just and inclusive society. "I always wanted to be a part of all this. I can’t remember how many times I told my mother: I’m going to make it work; I’m going to make the revolution," Mónica, a young Cuban woman who held a symbolic wedding with her partner Elizabeth in December, in the inner courtyard of the governmental National Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), told IPS ...(continued)
The New York Times recently profiled the Divas, a support group for black and Hispanic HIV-positive women over age 50 in Harlem, N.Y. The Divas, organized through Iris House -- a 15-year-old HIV/AIDS service center that operates many other specialty support groups -- meets weekly to discuss sexuality and sensuality, medication regimens and mental health. The members also participate in exercise classes and life management courses ...(continued)
The New York Times recently profiled the Divas, a support group for black and Hispanic HIV-positive women over age 50 in Harlem, N.Y. The Divas, organized through Iris House -- a 15-year-old HIV/AIDS service center that operates many other specialty support groups -- meets weekly to discuss sexuality and sensuality, medication regimens and mental health. The members also participate in exercise classes and life management courses ...(continued)
Galveston, Texas: Professor Roberta Ruiz of University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing has received a nearly $2.2 million grant, the largest ever to a faculty member at the school, to study preterm births to Mexican immigrant women, the Galveston County Daily News reports. The National Institute of Nursing Research awarded Ruiz the grant to research the "acculturation paradox," in which health outcomes for Hispanics worsen as they become more assimilated into U.S. culture. The grant will support an ongoing research project, "Psychoneuroimmunology: Preterm Birth in Hispanics," for the next four years. According to the Daily News, the grant will allow researchers to "explore what about acculturation leads to changes in the mothers' mental and physical health that contributes to the risk of premature births" (Galveston County Daily News, 5/20) ...(continued)
As many as 60% of all HIV positive people have experienced homelessness or unstable housing (such as staying on a friend's couch, where a person could be kicked out at any time) in their lifetimes, according to research by Angela Aidala, Ph.D. of the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. But often, even when organizations or governments provide housing as a part of HIV services, the issue is talked about in a way that blames individuals for "risky behavior" and assumes that if someone is dealing with both housing problems and HIV, these two challenges are a result of being a "risky person" ...(continued)
ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, has been fighting for the rights of people living with HIV/AIDS and for human rights-based HIV prevention in Philadelphia for 20 years. Longtime member Jose de Marco says, "People at our meetings - community members living with HIV and our allies - decide what political issues to work on. Sometimes, our campaigns choose us - they come to us and bang on the door." One action de Marco is most proud of? Interrupting John Kerry during a campaign speech in 2004, which helped inspire Kerry to double Bush's global AIDS funding promise from $15 billion to $30 billion ...(continued)
Guyana's Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy recently examined issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and health worker shortages at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the CMC/redOrbit reports. HIV/AIDS continues to "defy our best efforts and our best technologies," Ramsammy said, adding that the global health community needs a "re-energized battle against HIV" and "must commend those countries that have responded courageously and have made a significant dent on the transmission of HIV." According to Ramsammy, Guyana provides access to antiretroviral drugs to all people living with HIV/AIDS because the "benefits of earlier treatment overwhelm" the side effects of the drugs. He added that physicians in Guyana should increase their efforts to encourage people to be tested for HIV and that the country's public health community is "convinced" that abstinence-only HIV prevention programs "do not work" ...(continued)
The Miami Herald on Thursday examined the spread of HIV among injection drug users in Florida. According to the Herald, needle-exchange programs are banned in the state, so some health workers distribute sterilization equipment in an effort to curb the spread of HIV and other bloodborne diseases. The lack of needle-exchange programs is "especially worrisome" for Miami-Dade County, which had the highest rate of people living with AIDS in the U.S. in 2006, according to CDC, the Herald reports. The Florida Department of Health has found that 13% of the 37,000 people in Miami-Dade living with HIV in 2007 contracted the virus through injection drug use. In Broward County, 11% of the people living with HIV in 2007 contracted the virus through injection drug use. In addition, a recent study conducted by the University of Miami and the health department found that of 934 interviewed IDUs in both counties, 29% reported reusing needles, and 52% said they had reused paraphernalia to prepare injections ...(continued)
The shelters are like warehouses for men. Guys who go to work have to fill out a "late return." And you can fill out the paperwork, but if the person on duty doesn't put it in the proper place, you lose your bed. While I was living in another shelter, I finished an HIV treatment education class at a local AIDS service organization and completed a building maintenance class, but it was very hard for me - that and keeping my doctor's appointments, because I'm HIV positive ...(continued)
In the U.S. the most common way people get hepatitis B (HBV for short) is from having sex with someone who has HBV. HBV is in blood and it is also found in semen, vaginal fluids and menstrual blood. All types of sex (oral, anal, vaginal sex) can transmit HBV.
The HBV vaccine is the best way to protect you and others from getting HBV. Other ways to prevent sexual transmission of HBV is to use condoms or rubbers for oral sex on men as well as for vaginal or anal sex. Change condoms between anal, vaginal and oral sex, even if a male has not ejaculated or come ...(continued)
Slightly more than half (55%) of 15–19-year-olds have engaged in heterosexual oral sex, 50% have engaged in vaginal sex and 11% have had anal sex, according to a new Guttmacher Institute study. However, both oral and anal sex are much more common among teens who have already had vaginal intercourse than among those who have not, suggesting that teens initiate a range of sexual activities around the same time, rather than substitute one for another.
“There is a widespread belief that teens engage in nonvaginal forms of sex, especially oral sex, as a way to be sexually active while still claiming that technically, they are virgins,” says study author Laura Lindberg. “However, our research shows that this supposed substitution of oral sex for vaginal sex is largely a myth. There is no good evidence that teens who have not had intercourse engage in oral sex with a series of partners.”
Some teens may first experience oral sex immediately prior to vaginal intercourse, while others may initiate vaginal intercourse shortly before having oral sex. While only one in four teen virgins (26%) have engaged in oral sex, once teens have had vaginal intercourse, the proportion increases incrementally. By six months after first vaginal sex, more than four out of five adolescents (81%) have also engaged in oral sex, and by three years after first intercourse, nine in 10 (92%) have done so.
“The study has clear policy implications,” says Lindberg, a senior research associate at the Guttmacher Institute. “While oral and anal sex carry no risk of pregnancy, engaging in these behaviors can nevertheless put teens at risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Counseling and education should take into account total STI risk by addressing the full range of behaviors that teens engage in, including oral and anal sex. It is crucial that teens receive evidence-based education and counseling about STI risks and protective behaviors for all types of sexual activity. The federal government’s exclusive emphasis on abstinence-only-until-marriage programs does not give teens the skills and information they need to be safe.”
“Non-Coital Sexual Activities Among Adolescents,” by Laura Lindberg et al., is currently available on the Journal of Adolescent Health’s Web site and is scheduled to be published in the July 2008 issue of the journal. The study analyzes data on 15–19-year-olds from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth. Although this is the first time the federal government has measured the prevalence of both oral and anal sex and so no direct trend data are available, comparisons of these data with those from other nationally representative surveys (such as the National Survey of Men, the National Health and Social Life Survey, and the National Survey of Adolescent Males) find little change in oral sex among opposite-sex partners in the past decade.
Several HIV/AIDS advocacy groups are saying that a recent ruling in a Dallas County, Texas, case that an HIV-positive man who spit into the mouth and eye of a Dallas police officer was using saliva as a deadly weapon was excessive, the Dallas Morning News reports. CDC and "countless doctors say no one has ever contracted the virus from" saliva, the Morning News reports. According to Bebe Anderson, HIV project director for Lambda Legal, the group is criticizing the ruling, saying it could lead to a misunderstanding of how HIV is transmitted (Ellis, Dallas Morning News, 5/17) ...(continued)
NPR's "Weekend Edition Sunday" examined issues surrounding HIV/AIDS education in the U.S. The segment included a discussion with Adam Tenor -- executive director of Metro TeenAIDS, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that runs education programs in city schools -- and with John Jemmott, a specialist in health psychology at the University of Pennsylvania ...(continued)
Some community groups in Canada are calling on the government to reinstate funding for HIV/AIDS services and to stop further reductions, the CP/Google.com reports. The government recently announced that about $26 million will be redirected from HIV/AIDS initiatives to vaccine development efforts, the CP/Google.com reports ...(continued)
The HIV/AIDS epidemic has emerged to clearly threaten the public health of Asians and Pacific Islanders living in the United States and its territories. Today, on National Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we recognize the imperative to mobilize preventive and therapeutic services to protect this multifaceted community from the scourge of HIV/AIDS ...(continued)
More recreational water illnesses (RWI) outbreaks were reported in 2007 than ever before, and the numbers could increase in the coming years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). RWIs are illnesses that are spread by swallowing, breathing, or having contact with germs in the water of swimming pools, spas, lakes, rivers, or oceans. To highlight the importance of healthy swimming habits, the CDC has designated May 19-25, 2008, the week before Memorial Day, as National Recreational Water Illness Prevention Week. "The leading cause of RWI outbreaks is Cryptosporidium or Crypto, a chlorine-resistant parasite, primarily associated with treated swimming places, such as pools and water parks," explained Michele Hlavsa, an epidemiologist at the CDC. "This RWI has been a public health issue in the past and will likely pose an even bigger challenge in the future." During 2004-2007, the number of Crypto cases tripled. At the same time, the number of Crypto outbreaks linked to swimming pools more than doubled. Because Crypto is chlorine resistant, even a well-maintained pool can transmit this parasite. "People need to practice healthy swimming habits, such as not swimming when they have diarrhea, not swallowing the water, taking a shower before swimming, washing their hands after using the toilet or changing diapers, and washing their children thoroughly -- especially their bottoms -- with soap and water before swimming. To prevent outbreaks, we encourage pool operators to add supplemental disinfection to conventional chlorination and filtration methods," adds Hlavsa.
Symptoms generally begin two to 10 days (average seven days) after becoming infected with the parasite. Crypto is characterized by watery diarrhea lasting one to three weeks. It can be spread by swallowing recreational water contaminated with Crypto or by putting something in your mouth or accidentally swallowing something that has come in contact with the stool of a person or infected animal. Other symptoms include stomach cramps or pain, dehydration, nausea, vomiting, fever, and weight loss. Crypto is not spread by contact with blood. Some people with Crypto will have no symptoms at all, and most people who have healthy immune systems will recover without treatment. People with weakened immune systems are at risk for severe or life-threatening illness. For more information about crypto and healthy swimming, check your state's Web site www.cdc.gov/crypto, CDC's Healthy Swimming Web site (www.cdc.gov/healthyswimming), and the Environmental Protection Agency's beaches Web site (www.epa.gov/beaches).
~Department of Health and Human Services - 05/19/2008
The National Community Pharmacists Association this week plans to launch a new advertising campaign that asks lawmakers to address two policies that the group maintains has or will result in closures of community pharmacies, CongressDaily reports. As part of the launch of the campaign, about 500 community pharmacists and independent pharmacy owners will visit Washington, D.C. ...(continued)
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) - Health officials are urging clients of a Niagara Falls tattoo artist to be tested for HIV and hepatitis. Authorities say an investigation found that eight people developed skin infections after receiving tattoos from John Portik. While no one is known to have contracted HIV or hepatitis from the tattooing, Niagara and Erie County health officials say clients should be tested for the diseases because they don't know whether Portik took proper infection control precautions ...(continued)
In recognition of May 19 as World Hepatitis Awareness Day, local concerned citizens invite all interested area residents to a town-hall meeting about the disease from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, May 31, at Hanford Family Connection, 315 W. Lacey Blvd., Hanford. All aspects of hepatitis-C, a viral infection that attacks primarily the liver, will be covered at the session, said Robert Katz, the local coordinator of monthly group meetings about the disease at Visalia Health Center, 2611 N. Dinuba Blvd., Visalia.
For further information on these activities, call Katz at 562-3139.
May is National Hepatitis Awareness Month, which was first designated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2001. This is an important opportunity to help raise awareness about viral hepatitis in this country. With up to 5 million Americans affected by chronic hepatitis B and C, there is a lot that still needs to be done to improve prevention, education, and access to medical care and treatment! On Monday, May 19th, 2008 more than 200 hepatitis B and C patient groups from around the world will observe World Hepatitis Day.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study, which is the first of its kind, on March 11 at its annual STD prevention conference. Researchers culled through 2003-2004 data in an ongoing, annual health survey of American households. As part of that survey, 838 14- to 19-year- old girls were tested for a handful of common sexually transmitted infections -- chlamydia, herpes, trichomoniasis and human papilloma virus, or HPV. More than a quarter of the girls had at least one of the infections, as did 48 percent of Black girls. Twenty percent of both white and Mexican American girls (the only Latino group CDC broke down the numbers on) had one of the infections ...(continued)
Until the government is willing to spend as much money on AIDS and education as it does on searching for Osama bin Laden, then I'm going to keep preaching what I'm preaching. The United States has promised money for the AIDS pandemic that the United Nations has called the world’s worst health crisis. But the United States won’t deliver any money unless the country, the program, the people or the recipients of the U.S. aid subscribe to the insane policy of “abstinence only!” We are still fixated on who is sleeping with whom while people are dying like flies! As soon as you are willing to develop every child's brain instead of destroying Saddam Hussein, then I'm going to keep preaching what I'm preaching ...(continued)
Twenty-five years ago this month, researchers reported the isolation of the virus that causes AIDS. Since then, over 60 million people have been infected with HIV — an estimated 2.5 million in 2007 alone — numbers that remind us that the development of an HIV vaccine is an urgent humanitarian imperative. This year’s HIV Vaccine Awareness Day provides us with an opportunity to renew and strengthen our commitment here at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to finding a safe and effective HIV vaccine that will slow, and hopefully one day end, the HIV⁄AIDS pandemic ...(continued)
This investigation, the first one to identify dry dog food as the source of human Salmonella infections, demonstrates that dry pet food may be contaminated with Salmonella and be an under-recognized source of human infections, especially in young children. After handling pet foods, pet owners should wash their hands immediately, and infants should be kept away from pet feeding areas. The first report of human Salmonella infections caused by dry dog food occurred from 2006 to 2007. At least 70 persons, primarily in the Northeastern U.S., were infected with Salmonella by brands of dry dog food produced at a single Pennsylvania
facility. Approximately 40 percent of patients were infants. No pets were reported to be ill. However, this same germ was isolated from samples of feces from dogs that ate dry pet food in the homes of patients, from open bags of dry dog food being fed to these dogs, from the pet food plant environment, and from two brands of unopened bags of dry dog food made at this plant. The manufacturer announced a voluntary recall of select bags of these two brands. Neither of the recalled brands were linked to human illness.
~Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - 05/15/2008
BANGOR (NEWS CENTER) -- Students at United Technologies Center in Bangor are "cooking up" viral hepatitis education. They hope to raise awareness of viral hepatitis testing and vaccinations here in Maine. They are cooking gingerbread cookies and decorating them with the phrase "Am I number 12?" because one in 12 people worldwide are infected with viral hepatitis B or C. Also, because not everyone has symptoms, many people are unaware of thier infection and do not receive proper treatment ...(continued)
Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons says he won't name a special counsel to investigate doctors linked to a hepatitis C outbreak, saying the responsibility rests with the state Board of Medical Examiners. In turn, two lawmakers who sought the independent investigation are now seeking assurances from the medical board's president that its probe will be thorough. "We're just trying to keep the pressure on," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno ...(continued)
Hepatitis C is no longer a lifelong debilitating disease and can now be cured for more than half of patients, an expert on the disease said Thursday. "Back in the early '90s we were really curing precious few -- no more that five or 10 per cent," said Dr. Stuart Gordon, the head of hepatology at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. "We're definitely making progress overall in curing hepatitis C" ...(continued)
As unlucky as George Oberholzer was to contract hepatitis C, he couldn't have been luckier when it came to treating it. The Kitchener postal worker's infection was discovered by chance when he went to the doctor for an unrelated reason in September 2005. After the first month of gruelling treatment, he was free of the virus. But he continued treatment for three months to be sure. Like many people with hepatitis C, the 54-year-old went decades with no clue that he was infected. The virus eventually damages the liver and patients may develop cancer or need a liver transplant. But it can take 20 or 30 years for liver disease to become apparent ...(continued)
Establishing effective systems that reliably detect Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infections among all populations could have a lasting effect on HCV disease control. Surveillance for hepatitis C is challenging due to the nature of the disease and the effort required to collect complete information. When resources are limited, algorithms to prioritize cases for investigation can guide targeted response initiatives to get affected people needed help and prevent additional hepatitis C infections. During the summer of 2007, the New York State and Erie County Departments of Health investigated a cluster of hepatitis C among adolescents and young adults in Erie County. The major risk factor reported was intravenous drug use. The Departments cooperated to investigate the cluster and implement interventions that included education, testing, and referral to medical, mental health, and addiction therapy. This demonstrates the utility of enhanced surveillance to guide effective resource deployment.
~Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - 05/15/2008
CDC recently posted a podcast titled "Stopping the Silent Killer: Hepatitis B Among Asian Americans" on its website. This resource features Dr. John Ward, director of CDC's Division of Viral Hepatitis, and Dr. Sam So, founder of the Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, discussing the health threat of chronic HBV infection to many Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States and the importance of testing, vaccination, and care. Click title to access.
~Centers for Disease Control and Prevention - 05/15/2008
Actor Dennis Quaid on Wednesday testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, asking lawmakers to support legislation that would allow consumers to file product liability lawsuits in state courts if the Supreme Court rules in favor of so-called pre-emption, CongressDaily reports (Edney, CongressDaily, 5/15). Quaid and his wife filed a lawsuit against Baxter Healthcare after the couples' newborn twins in November 2007 were given 1,000 times the intended dosage of Baxter's blood-thinner heparin. The Quaids claimed that the company knew the product had confusing labeling because it began using new labeling but did not recall heparin with the old labeling (Rockoff, Baltimore Sun, 5/15) ...(continued)
Hispanics will become the largest minority group in Arkansas by 2020, which will require the hiring and training of more bilingual medical personnel, according to a report released on Tuesday, the Northwest Arkansas Morning News reports (Moritz, Northwest Arkansas Morning News, 5/13). The 240-page report, which was presented to state House and Senate lawmakers at a joint meeting, was written by Ty Borders -- an associate professor of health policy, and management and epidemiology at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health. Sen. Shane Broadway (D) commissioned the study in 2005 in an effort to encourage lawmakers to prepare the state's agencies and infrastructure for shifts in demographics (Park, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 5/14) ...(continued)
We are so excited to tell you about a remarkable teenager who has decided to take his devastating medical diagnosis and turn it into an opportunity to raise awareness about hepatitis B! John Ellis has volunteered to ride his bicycle from Pensacola to Philadelphia in a 1,100 mile journey that has become the "Believe in the Cure Cycling Tour" to benefit the Hepatitis B Foundation.
John is riding for all those living with hepatitis B - he sends a message of hope that hepatitis B is preventable and treatable. John's journey begins on June 2nd at his high school in Pensacola and ends on June 23rd at Lloyd Hall on Kelly Drive in Philadelphia, close to the Foundation's hometown.
What can you do to support this young man? It's simple…follow the four steps below and send John on his way!
1. Learn more about John's incredible story on our website.
2. Follow John's journey by logging onto his blog and be sure to post your support and encouragement regularly for him to see!
3. Forward this email to 20 of YOUR friends and family members to spread the powerful message of hope that John is bringing through his cycling tour!
4. Finally, if you believe in what John is doing, Make a Donation today to benefit the Hepatitis B Foundation's research efforts to find a cure.
Together we can help make a difference and support John's cycling tour to raise awareness about hepatitis B. Thank you in advance for your help and support!
With our deepest gratitude,
Joan Block, RN, BSN Co-Founder and Executive Director Hepatitis B Foundation (215) 489-4900
info@hepb.org www.hepb.org
Microsoft executive Jeffrey Raikes on Monday was named the new CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the New York Times reports. Raikes will replace Patty Stonesifer, who in February announced that she will step down from her position (Strom, New York Times, 5/13). Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 and most recently served as president of the company's business software division (Rucker, Washington Post, 5/13). He will start at the Gates Foundation on Sept. 2, a day after he retires from Microsoft (New York Times, 5/13) ...(continued)
Fatigue is the most common symptom reported by people living with hepatitis C (HCV). One study found that 67% of HCV-positive people reported this symptom. Fatigue can range from mild to severe and can affect every area of life. Fatigue is difficult to quantify since it affects everyone differently and it cannot be measured by lab tests. Yet few symptoms can disturb quality of life more than relentless fatigue can. As Vince Lombardi said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all" ...(continued)
One had the charm of youth. The other was dying from hepatitis C, which had destroyed his liver. One year ago, their worlds collided. A car accident minutes from his Glendale home ended Josh Florence's life. From that violence, Mesa resident Jeff Register would get a second chance, receiving the young man's liver and a kidney ...(continued)
A hearing held about assets of Drs. Dipak Desai and Eladio Carrers concluded late Tuesday. Attorneys were trying to get Desai's assets frozen, saying he may be trying to protect his money illegally. The judge granted a preliminary injunction ...(continued)
I WILL be launching a charity CD in aid of the Hepatitis C Trust to coincide with World Hepatitis Day (WHD) 8 on May 19. This CD is my brainchild. I am currently undergoing treatment for hepatitis C (HCV) ...(continued)
Drug users are still too vulnerable to dangerous infections despite well performing drug treatment services, says a national report.
A report showing results from the second of three annual reviews to assess the performance of substance misuse treatment services in England found inconsistent practice across the country for testing for and treatment of hepatitis B and C ...(continued)
City leaders have decided on what they believe is the best way to spend $500,000 to help in the valley's current health crisis. Attorneys for the Endoscopy Center on Shadow Lane gave city leaders a half a million dollars one month ago as part of a civil fine.
The mayor immediately decided the money would go to help in the current health crisis, but several agencies requested it. Wednesday, we found out exactly who's going to get it ...(continued)
The Jamaica Gleaner on Monday profiled a program in the western part of the country aimed at improving the treatment outcomes of HIV-positive children. According to the Gleaner, "the burden of care" for many children living with and affected by HIV/AIDS has fallen on older female family members -- such as aunts, grandmothers and great-grandmothers -- in part because HIV-positive mothers are dying young, often in their early 20s ...(continued)
An increasing amount of evidence is finding that exercise can improve the health of HIV-positive people and reduce the risk of AIDS-related illnesses by increasing muscle mass and improving heart and lung endurance, the Sacramento Bee reports. Many people living with HIV/AIDS have begun or resumed exercise regimens since the development of antiretroviral drugs in the 1990s, according to the Bee ...(continued)
This update contains details for the May 19 civil society call to discuss the proposed PAVE 100 AIDS vaccine efficacy trial. Civil society input into this trial is critical, and we hope you'll join us for this opportunity to review the details of the proposed trial with a member of the trial team, and to explore key issues and questions. You can also email your questions in advance to avac@avac.org. [For background documents on PAVE 100 visit: www.avac.org/pave.htm.]
The call is scheduled to take place on Monday, May 19th at 11AM US Eastern (8AM US Pacific, 10AM Lima, noon Rio, 4PM London, 5PM Johannesburg, 6PM Kampala, 6PM Nairobi, 10PM Bangkok, 1AM (May 20) Sydney).
Dial-In Numbers: US/Canada Dial-in #: 800-616-0284 / Int'l Dial-In #: 706-645-9186 / Conference ID # 47858867
Toll-free numbers for the call are available in a number of countries--please see the table below.
Country Toll-free number
Brazil 0-8008916189
India 0008001006182
Kenya 0-800220115
Peru 080052599
South Africa 0800994050
Thailand 0-01800132017860
United Kingdom 08009174860
If you who would like to be called, please email your request--including full name, country, and phone number at which you can be reached--to avac@avac.org as soon as possible.
We look forward to speaking with you next week!
Fifty-one percent of insured U.S. residents last year took one or more prescription drugs for chronic diseases, compared with 50% in the previous four years and 47% in 2001, according to a report released on Tuesday by Medco Health Solutions, the AP/Houston Chronicle reports. For the report, Medco examined the prescription records of a representative sample of 2.5 million customers from 2001 to 2007. Last year, almost two-thirds of women ages 20 and older, one in four children and teenagers, 52% of men and three-fourths of seniors took prescription drugs for chronic diseases, according to the report ...(continued)
The average American woman—who wants two children— spends about three decades trying to avoid pregnancy and only a few years trying to become or being pregnant. Sexually active women who are not seeking pregnancy may nonetheless practice contraception poorly or may not use a method at all. A wide range of reasons explain this seeming contradiction, including personal feelings and beliefs; experiences with methods; fears about side effects; partner influences; cultural values and norms; and problems in the contraceptive care system. Helping women prevent unintended pregnancy requires a broad-based approach that addresses many of these issues ...(continued)
Panelists at a forum on Monday discussed the lack of legislation and policies aimed at reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care, CQ HealthBeat reports. Experts speaking at the forum, which was sponsored by the Alliance for Health Reform and the Commonwealth Fund, said that both federal and state lawmakers can do much to address disparities but acknowledged that the legislative response needed goes beyond coverage expansions and has been slow to develop, according to CQ HealthBeat ...(continued)
Hawaii lawmakers last week overrode Gov. Linda Lingle's (R) veto of a bill that will enroll the state in I-SaveRx, a program that allows residents to purchase lower-cost prescription drugs from other countries, the AP/Honolulu Advertiser reports. Hawaii is the sixth state to enroll in the program, which began in Illinois in 2004 and can provide savings of up to 55%. It will be available to all state residents by July 1, 2009 ...(continued)
"In some communities, death rates" from cancer are "substantially higher than in others," and the rates are "shamefully high among minorities and the poor because many lack access to lifesaving prevention and treatment measures," Lance Armstrong, a cyclist and testicular cancer survivor, writes in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece. "On many levels, we know how to defeat cancer; we just don't do it," according to Armstrong ...(continued)
CDC needs a $600 million increase in funding for effective HIV/AIDS prevention and surveillance programs, advocates said Monday at a briefing hosted by the AIDS Institute to assess the agency's efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the U.S., CQ HealthBeat reports. The $600 million increase would nearly double CDC's current HIV/AIDS prevention budget, CQ HealthBeat reports ...(continued)
Officials from Yemen and the United Nations Development Programme on Monday signed a $10.6 million, three-year agreement to strengthen efforts to fight HIV/AIDS in the country, SABA News reports. The agreement was signed by Abdul-Karim al-Arhabi, Yemen's minister of Planning and International Cooperation, and UNDP Acting Resident Representative Selva Ramachandran ...(continued)
The Chicago Tribune Magazine on Sunday examined HIV/AIDS among children and adolescents in the U.S. According to the Tribune, there are about 6,000 children and young adults living with HIV/AIDS in the country. The development of antiretroviral drugs in the 1990s has improved the lives of children living with HIV/AIDS and reduced the number of infants born with the virus from about 1,700 annually in the 1990s to about 150 annually today. Ram Yogev, founder of the HIV program at Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said it is "unbelievable" that children with HIV now live into adulthood, adding that HIV-positive children had a life expectancy of three to four years in the late 1980s and eight or nine years in 1990 ...(continued)
Rapid HIV tests have been found to be highly effective in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission in clinical trials in India, according to a study published online Tuesday in PLoS Medicine, the Times of India reports (Sinha, Times of India, 5/7). For the study, the researchers used OraSure Technologies' OraQuick Advance Rapid HIV 1/2 Antibody Test (Derfel, Montreal Gazette, 5/6) ...(continued)
Today AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) launched a “YouTube” video to press Congress to preserve AIDS treatment in PEPFAR. “Save AIDS Treatment in PEPFAR” features Jenny Boyce, a mother living with HIV/AIDS in Durban, South Africa, Lydia Nyide—also from Durban—whose 11-year-old granddaughter Phumla is living with HIV/AIDS and Njabulo Mabaso, M.D., Deputy Medical Director of AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Ithembalabantu “People’s Hope” Clinic. Click title to view video.
This updated fact sheet highlights the impact of HIV/AIDS on Latinos in the United States, providing current data and trends over time. Click title to review.
This updated fact sheet highlights the impact of HIV/AIDS on women in the United States, providing current data and trends over time. Click title to review.
May 11-17 marks the 11th Annual Food Allergy Awareness Week, a time set aside to increase the public's awareness of food allergies and the potential challenges they pose. In an average week in the United States, two or three otherwise healthy Americans will lose their lives due to allergic reactions to foods. Approximately 6 to 8 percent of children under age 4 and nearly 4 percent of persons age 5 and older have a food allergy ...(continued)
The New York Times on Saturday examined access to health care for undocumented immigrant farm workers in the U.S., who often do not have health coverage. According to the Times, some farm workers will go to a hospital or a clinic if they are severely ill, but most of them, "particularly indigenous Mexican groups," receive most of their care from a "parallel system of spiritual healers, home remedies and self-medication." The Times reports that immigrants in interviews said cost was the most dominant factor in not receiving care but that "other factors included fear of deportation, long waits for treatment in medically underserved areas, and barriers of culture and language" ...(continued)
IRIN/PlusNews on Monday examined efforts to increase access to safe drinking water among HIV-positive people living in Sudan. According to IRIN/PlusNews, people living with HIV are especially vulnerable to diseases that can be spread through unsafe drinking water because of their weakened immune systems. Although conflict in Sudan officially ended in 2005, government officials in the south of the country have said that they do not have the resources necessary to rebuild the region and deliver services, such as safe water ...(continued)
CDC Director Julie Gerberding on Friday at a forum in Oakland, Calif., said that more money is needed to fight HIV/AIDS in the black community, particularly among black men who have sex with men, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. "We have not succeeded in our prevention efforts," Gerberding said at the meeting, which was hosted by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). She added, "You have to scale the money to the scope of the problem. The pie is only so big right now. What we need is a bigger pie" ...(continued)
The number of children in the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina who complained of symptoms of bronchitis, pneumonia and other lower respiratory illnesses rose in the years after the storm, according to a 49-page CDC report released on Thursday, the Washington Post reports. CDC researchers developed the report based on an analysis of medical charts and interviews with 144 children ages two to 12 in Mississippi's Hancock County who received treatment between August 2004 and August 2007 at the Hancock Medical Center and four physician clinics ...(continued)
This update contains links to two documents AVAC has developed for communities to better understand the proposed PAVE 100 trial of an AIDS vaccine strategy developed by the US NIH Vaccine Research Center. It also contains information on a May 19 civil society conference call (in English) that will provide further opportunity to discuss this trial. We may conduct a Spanish language conference call and are also available to do calls in English and Spanish with individual groups. If you are interested in this, please email us at avac@avac.org.
The documents linked below provide information on the current state of the discussion around PAVE 100, a proposed efficacy trial of an AIDS vaccine strategy that includes two components: a DNA "prime" and an adenovirus-vectored "boost." Since these discussions are ongoing, the information presented in the documents may change. Please visit www.avac.org/pave.htm for the most up-to-date information.
PAVE 100 would be the first AIDS vaccine efficacy trial to launch since the STEP and Phambili trials of Merck's MRK-Ad5 vaccine halted immunizations in 2007. Subsequent analyses of data from STEP suggest that some of the volunteers who received the vaccine may have been more susceptible to HIV infection compared to volunteers who received the placebo. For more information about these trials, please visit http://www.avac.org/step.htm.
STEP and Phambili tested MRK-Ad5, which used an adenovirus vector. The strategy being tested in PAVE 100 also includes an adenovirus vector. It is different in some ways from the MRK-Ad5 vector; however, there are also similarities.
Community input on PAVE 100 is essential. The documents we have developed are designed to help advocates, community groups and other stakeholders understand some of the key questions that have been raised in discussions about PAVE 100. This input is urgently needed as the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' AIDS Vaccine Research Subcommittee considers PAVE 100 at a meeting on May 30 where there will be an opportunity to present community priorities and concerns.
To further explore the issue, AVAC will hold a series of conference calls in the coming weeks. We plan to hold a call on Monday, May 19 at 11am US Eastern time. If you are interested in participating, please let us know by e-mailing avac@avac.org, and we will send out details in the coming week. We are also working to translate these documents into Spanish and will post them as soon as they become available.
As we update these materials, we are also developing a set of frequently asked questions and we'd love to hear what's on your mind when it comes to PAVE 100. While we may not be able to post the answers to all your questions on the website, we will do our best to answer every one we receive. Please send your questions to avac@avac.org.
As always, thank you and please contact us if you would like AVAC to set up a separate conference call for your organization to do more in-depth discussion on PAVE 100.
The 2008 upsurge in U.S. measles cases serves as a reminder that measles can still occur in this country from imported cases. These cases and outbreaks result primarily from failure to vaccinate, many because of personal or religious belief exemption. Unvaccinated persons are at risk for acquiring measles themselves and also of transmitting to others, including children too young to be vaccinated. Measles, a highly contagious acute viral disease, can result in serious complications and death. Due to a successful measles vaccination program, measles elimination (interruption of endemic measles transmission) was declared in the United States in 2000. However, every year, more than 20 million measles cases occur worldwide and importations of measles into the U.S will continue. From January 1 through April 25, 2008, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention received 64 reports of confirmed measles cases-the highest number reported for the same time period since 2001. Ten cases were acquired overseas, 9 from the European WHO region where large measles outbreaks are occurring in Switzerland and in Israel. The remaining 54 cases are considered to be linked to importations. Only one of the 64 cases had documentation of prior vaccination. Many of the measles cases among U.S. children in 2008 occurred in children whose parents claimed exemption from vaccination due to religious or personal beliefs or in children too young to be vaccinated. Increases in the proportion of persons declining vaccination for themselves or their children could result in large-scale outbreaks in the U.S., as has occurred in other countries, such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
~Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report - 05/08/2008
The Kenyan government on Tuesday launched a 60 million shilling -- or about $975,000 -- campaign to increase the number of HIV-positive people who are screened for tuberculosis at public hospitals, the Nation reports. The campaign also aims to educate health workers to test people with TB for HIV ...(continued)
A dispute between Children's Hospital Central California and Anthem Blue Cross has caused Hmong immigrant children enrolled in government health insurance programs in Fresno County, Calif., to face long waits for specialists and to travel to other cities to seek care, dozens of parents testified on Tuesday at a county Board of Supervisor's meeting, the Fresno Bee reports. The contract between Children's and Blue Cross ended Aug. 1, when the two parties could not agree on payment levels for children enrolled in Medi-Cal -- California's Medicaid program -- and Healthy Families -- the state's version of SCHIP ...(continued)
The Bush administration on Wednesday sent letters to state health officials to clarify a policy directive issued last year that restricts states' ability to expand their SCHIP programs, CQ HealthBeat reports (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 5/7). According to guidelines issued in August 2007, before expanding SCHIP eligibility to children in families with incomes greater than 250% of the federal poverty level, states first must demonstrate they have enrolled at least 95% of eligible children with family incomes below 200% of the poverty level (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 4/21) ...(continued)
The Illinois Joint Committee on Administrative Rules in February voted 8-2 to reject, for the second time, an emergency order by Blagojevich to expand the FamilyCare program. The legislative oversight committee first rejected the expansion in November 2007. Currently, families with annual incomes up to $38,202 are eligible for the program. The committee, in voting against the plan, questioned how the state would pay for an expansion (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 2/28). According to the AP/Tribune, Blagojevich "expanded his FamilyCare program anyway," extending the program to families of four with annual incomes up to $83,000 ...(continued)
Advocacy groups on Wednesday during a briefing about the millions of children worldwide who have lost one or both parents to AIDS called for an increase in community-based programs to assist AIDS orphans, as well as the passage of legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, CQ HealthBeat reports (Cooley, CQ HealthBeat, 5/7). The House last month voted to approve a bill (HR 5501) that would reauthorize PEPFAR at $50 billion over the next five years, among other measures. The Senate version, which also would allocate $50 billion over five years, passed the Foreign Relations Committee in March and is awaiting floor consideration (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/3) ...(continued)
